Separate Lives
by Slashapalooza
Summary: Sora has always been taught that the rich and the poor shouldn’t mix. Then, he flunks out of his prep school and gets sent to a public school in the ‘slums’, where a certain whitehaired boy sets out to change his mind.
1. Pilot

**Title: **Separate Lives

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer:** Once a lass met a lad. "You're a gentle one," said she. In my heart I'd be glad if you loved me for me. You say your love is true and I hope that it will be. I'd be sure if I knew that you loved me for me. Could I be the one you're seeking? Will I be the one choose? Can you tell my heart is speaking? My eyes will give you clues.

What you see may be deceiving. Truth lies underneath the skin. Hope will blossom by believing the heart that lies within. I'll be yours. Together, we shall always be as one if you loved me for me. Who can say where we'll go? Who can promise what we'll be? I will stay by your side if you loved me for me.

**Fiction Rating T: **13+ Unverified. Contains content not suitable for children. Suitable for teens, 13 and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

**Summary:** AU Sora has always been taught that the rich and the poor shouldn't mix. But when flunks out of his prep school and gets sent to a public school in the 'slums', can a certain white-haired boy change Sora's perceptions about the world? RS

**Main Pairings:** Sora/Riku (Duh), Leon/Cloud, Tidus/Selphie. So, basically, all the important people are set up.  
**Kairi & Wakka:** WHAT ABOUT US!  
**Slashy:** I said _important_ people.

**Author's Note: **Yeah, the song in the disclaimer did nothing to disclaim anything, but I think we all know by now that I don't own Kingdom Hearts. The song's from Barbie's Princess and the Pauper (Yeah, I know. Eww, Barbie. But the movie was so _addicting_!)

Anyway, so, I had this story idea awhile ago, but I've finally decided to sit down and write it up. You should enjoy it. Sora's quite naïve and Riku is quite willing to corrupt. Plus Tidus and Selphie as well as Leon and Cloud have their own little side plots! It's all very planned out.

Except, you know, not really.

**Category:** Parents strongly cautioned. This story may contain boys kissing and/or being kissed, groping and/or being groped, molesting and/or being molested, dry humor, sexual situations and/or sex related humor, extreme flirting, obsession, and the bending of the body into a variety of odd positions.

Get your mind out of the gutter, you sick children.

**Feedback:** It's my favorite word.

**Setting: **Destiny Islands and the mainland

**Date Begun:** April 4, 2005

**Date Posted: **April 14, 2005

**001: Pilot**  
Sora folded his last shirt and stuffed it into his suitcase, a thoughtful frown on his face. He couldn't believe he'd managed to get himself kicked out of Takaishi Prep School. His parents had gone there! His sister was going there!

And he… had just flunked out of there.

He groaned under his breath. So he'd failed a few subjects. He'd never been good at math, there was way too much history, he never claimed to be a good writer, he couldn't draw at all and he kept blowing things up in the science lab.

But, honestly, kicking a Harada out of Takaishi Prep? It was unheard of! The Harada family contributed so much money to the school every year that it was a miracle they didn't own the place. Sora must have been the first Harada to ever get booted.

Damn, his life sucked.

He closed his suitcase and dropped it on the floor, looking around his dorm room one last time. He was due home some time in the late afternoon since it was a long trip from the northern tip of Destiny Islands, all the way to the west side where the mansions were located.

He doubted his parents would be very happy to see him, especially considering it was only January and half way through midterms week. Sora had a sneaking suspicion that he'd been failing those, too.

"Hey," Kairi greeted as she entered the room. Sora gave her a look, watching as she dusted off her navy blue Takaishi Prep uniform skirt. It matched well with the white, collared Oxford shirt with the Takaishi seal embroidered into the breast pocket and the navy blue tie. Kairi was missing the royal blue jacket to go with it. "All packed up yet?"

"More or less," Sora answered, brushing his fingers through his hair and pouting again. "I still can't believe this. I'm a Harada for pity's sake!"

"Harada or not, you still flunked out, Sora. Accept it and move on. In the meantime, do you think I look better with the jacket or without it?" Kairi asked, spinning in a circle so her brother got the full effect. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Kairi? Not helping. Not even remotely cheering me up," Sora told her flatly as he grabbed his suitcase. "The limo's coming to pick me up in a few minutes. I begged Drew not to tell Mom and Dad about this."

"You're going to have to face them eventually," Kairi said, examining herself in the full-length mirror on Sora's wall. "If you're still alive after Dad gets through with you, call me. If not, I'm turning your room into a storage closet when I go home in two weeks."

Sora glared. "Gee, thanks."

"What are sisters for?" She kissed his cheek with mock affection, laughing when he swatted at her and wiped his cheek off with his sleeve. "You'd better hurry up, Mr. I Flunked Out Of Six Schools In Five Months."

"Whatever, Ms. My Favorite Thing To Do Is Stare At Myself In Shiny Objects," Sora shot back, rolling his eyes and heading out the door before she could retort. He sighed again as he walked through the familiar halls for the last time.

He'd only been going to Takaishi for three months and he'd already flunked out! That was a new record.

Sora opened the limo door and slid into the back, dropping his suitcase on the ground and immediately reaching for the bowl of candy they now kept in there since Sora took the limo _everywhere_.

"Your mother will be very disappointed," Drew commented, looking at Sora through the rearview mirror. Sora, his cheeks stuffed with candy, glared and put up the window separating the front and backseat.

He didn't need his _driver_ lecturing him, too. He'd have to put up with that as soon as he got home. All he could hope for was traffic and excruciatingly long red lights.

* * *

Sora walked into the three story mansion, dragging his suitcase along behind him. Drew had offered to carry it for him, but, the way Sora saw it, if he ran into his parents first thing he could pretend to faint from exhaustion and gain some pity points. 

Sure, that might get Drew fired, but the man was expendable and Sora had his own life to look out for.

"Mom? Dad?" Sora whispered, barely loud enough for a _mouse_ to hear. He smiled cheekily. "Guess they're not home. Lucky me."

He walked over to the elevator next to the grand staircase and pressed the button for the third floor where his bedroom was. He took a seat on the couch that was arranged beautifully in the elevator along with a magazine rack and sighed, wondering if he could manage to make himself scarce so his parents wouldn't notice he was home.

He doubted he could pull that off for two weeks until Kairi got home with news that her oh-so-loveable brother had flunked out of school. No doubt she would take great joy in relating the news to their parents.

He got up as the bell rang, signaling he'd made it to the third floor. The elevator doors opened and Sora jumped back, nearly tripping over his suitcase and falling. He gulped. "U-uh, Mom… Dad… h-hi…"

Seiya Harada placed her hands on her hips and gave Sora a look. "What are you doing back home, Sora?" she asked in a 'you'd better answer right or you're in trouble' tone. Yukito Harada raised an eyebrow at his son, frowning.

"You got kicked out of Takaishi, didn't you?" he asked in an oddly calm voice. Sora merely nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Otherwise it might come out something like 'BACK DEMONS!'

Seiya rubbed her temples. "Oh, Sora, how _could_ you?"

"How could _they_?" Yukito ranted, pacing from side to side. "We practically own the school! How dare they throw out a Harada! It's unspeakable!" Seiya continued giving Sora a disappointed look.

"Sora what happened? You were doing so well there!" she said, sighing. "Now we're going to have to find you a new school and enroll you and probably pay them off, too, and…"

"Don't blame the boy, dear. It's the prep school's fault. I'm withdrawing all of our donations," Yukito announced with a firm nod of his head.

"You can't do that! Kairi's still going there. If we withdraw our funding, the gossip will spread like wildfire. You know she doesn't handle gossip well," Seiya argued with one hand on her hip. Yukito raised an eyebrow.

"Are you questioning my authority?"

"No, I'm telling you you're being stupid. You have _no_ authority over me."

"Wanna bet?"

"Wanna sleep on the couch tonight?"

Sora backed himself further into the elevator and watched his parents bicker back and forth. He sighed in relief as the elevator doors slowly closed and the elevator began moving back downstairs. He decided that going for a walk around the island would be perfect for getting him out of the house and give his parents time to accept the news that he'd gotten kicked out.

Leaving his suitcase in the elevator, he headed back outside and climbed into the limo. "I want to go for a walk," he announced to Drew, once again dipping into the candy bowl.

Drew glanced back at him. "So… what are you doing in the limo then?"

"Tch," Sora snorted, raising an eyebrow. "Who says going for a walk has to involve walking? Are you questioning my authority?"

"Well…"

"Just drive," Sora said flatly, sticking a jawbreaker into his mouth and closing the limo door.

* * *

"Alright, troops," Riku said, adjusting the cooking pot on his head and looking at the six children he had lined up in front of him. He was in the kitchen of Tidus's house and was currently playing a game of War with Tidus and his younger brothers and sisters. He'd taken six and rallied them in the kitchen while Tidus and his six had taken hold in the basement. "We're going to beat them and we're going to beat them good." 

"What do we do, Wiku?" asked five-year-old Fuka, the youngest of the group. She never could seem to get his name right and her missing front tooth didn't help the matter much.

Riku hummed thoughtfully. "How about an ambush?"

"Nah," nine-year-old Kenshin chimed in. "Tidus is smart. He's probably got the basement booby trapped and waiting for us."

"You just made two major errors, private," Riku corrected, pointing the wooden cooking spoon in Kenshin's direction. "First, you made an assumption, which makes an ass out of you. Second, you called your brother smart."

He smiled at the round of snickering that came from the children. Clearing his throat, he went back to the game plan. "Alright, so, I want two of you to come with me to ambush Tidus and his group. Two of you will hang back to be the rescue party. One of you will hold down the fort and the last of you will serve as a guard."

He hummed thoughtfully. "Kenshin and Fuka, you come with me. Rin and Risa, you're the rescue party, Haru, you're holding down the fort, and Kaoru is the guard. Are we ready to kick some Mihada hinny?"

"YEAH!" the children screamed, pumping their fists into the air. Riku saluted them, watching Haru and Kaoru scrambled off to the living room to watch their fort and looking back at the rest. Nodding to Fuka and Kenshin, he began the walk over to the basement door.

He put a finger to his lips to get them to be quiet and peeked down the stairs. It was quiet. Too quiet.

He headed down first, careful to avoid the squeaky stairs so as not to give away his position. He adjusted the pot on his head against and looked around. He couldn't see any sign of Tidus or Sakura, Tomo, Jou, Yuu, Mika, and Hojou.

Fuka held her silver ladle tightly and started heading to the right while Kenshin took his spatula weapon and headed left. Riku headed right down the middle, keeping his eyes and ears peeled. Tidus was awfully tricky when it came to War.

"ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!"

He quickly flipped around in time to block a swipe heading for his head. He smirked at Tidus and poked him in the stomach with the wooden spoon before Tidus could block, then parried and went in for the strike again. Tidus avoided the blow and swung for Riku's feet, but Riku quickly flipped backwards and avoided it.

"There are only three of them, Tidus!" Riku heard Jou report from somewhere to his right. "I've got one!"

Fuka was screaming. "Wiku! WIKU! HELP ME! They've got me!"

Riku glanced to the side and spotted a wheelbarrow right behind Tidus. He swung for Tidus's chest, causing the blond to duck, then he quickly swung for Tidus's legs and tripped him. He smiled in satisfaction as Tidus fell back into the wheelbarrow.

Riku turned and went running. "Fuka! Fuka, are you still alive!"

He found her sprawled out on the floor by the tool shelf, one hand over her heart and her weapon falling from her hands. He knelt down next to her, giving her a sympathetic look as she started coughing. "Wiku… it was horrible… they were everywhere…" she said, coughing again.

"Are you gonna make it?" Riku asked, taking her hand and squeezing it gently.

"I need the kiss of LIFE!" Fuka announced dramatically, putting a hand to her forehead and coughing again. Riku smirked and shook his head, kissing her forehead. Fuka instantly sprang back up and grabbed her spoon, swinging it around. "Vive la révolution!'

Riku laughed and went to go see how Kenshin was holding up, finding the boy in the middle of a circle of enemies. Riku picked up Tomo and set her down on a table, ignoring her protests. He grabbed Jou, Sakura, and Yuu as well, setting them both in the wheelbarrow that he noticed was now empty.

Leaving Kenshin to contend with Mika and Hojou, Riku went back to looking for Tidus, wondering where he could have gotten to.

"RIKU! TIDUS IS ATTACKING THE FORT!" Haru called from upstairs. Riku took off for the stairs with Fuka on his heels and raced into the living room. Tidus was on the floor, wrestling with Kaoru for the flag. Riku jumped into the fray, helping Kaoru get the flag.

"Quick, Fuka, go find their flag!" he instructed, still trying to wrestle the flag from Tidus's grasp. The blonde just would not let the damn thing go.

Fuka nodded and ran off, taking Haru with her for protection as they went to go search for the flag. Riku looked back at Tidus and smirked. "You're losing, Mihada."

"You wish, Masaki," Tidus snapped back, not letting go.

"Your men have fallen. Give up!"

"Half of them are girls, and I won't give up so LET GO!"

They continued pulling back and forth until they heard a key being inserted into the keyhole. Riku's eyes widened and he let go at the same time Tidus did.

Tidus stood up. "THE WICKED WITCH IS BACK!" he called.

Riku pulled down the pillow fort and put all the pillows back in their rightful place, taking the pot off his head and throwing it behind the couch for safe-keeping. Tidus did the same with his kitchen utensils, watching as, one-by-one, his brothers and sisters ran into the room and arranged themselves on the floor.

Riku and Tidus hopped onto the couch and turned on the TV just as Tidus's mother, Kitara Mihada, came stumbling into the house. As usual, she was fairly plastered.

"Tidush?" She called, her words slurring a bit. "Where're you?"

"In the living room, mom. Riku's over," Tidus said, toying with one of the pillows. Kitara entered the room and looked around, her eyes taking a minute to focus before a hesitant smile spread on her face.

"This is nice… all watchin' TV toge'tha," she mused, running her fingers through her hair. "Should I make din'er?"

"No, we already ate," Tidus answered again, not taking his eyes off the TV screen. Kitara nodded and left. Nobody relaxed until they heard her walk up the stairs and heard her bedroom door slam. Fuka sighed and sat up.

"Mommy had too much to drink again?" she asked, climbing into Tidus' lap. The blonde nodded, ruffling her hair affectionately.

"We'll play again tomorrow, alright?" Tidus told her with a smile. He looked over at Riku. "Can you make it?"

"Nah, Dad wants to have one of those father-son days after school," Riku explained, smiling a bit when Tidus made a face. "Ya'll can go ahead and play without me, though. Invite Wakka over or something."

Tidus snorted. "Yeah. _That's_ what I'm gonna do."

"Hey," Riku said, getting up. "Just because he beat you out for captain of the blitzball team is no reason to hate his guts. He's pretty cool, even though his taste in music and his fashion sense pretty much suck."

Tidus rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn't acknowledge the statement. Riku ruffled Fuka's hair as well and looked at the rest of the Mihada children. "Alright guys, I'll catch you later."

"Bye Riku!" they chorused happily. Riku chuckled and waved before heading to the front door, grabbing his backpack on the way and running his fingers through his hair. He spent way too much time at Tidus' house. He was starting to forget what his own house looked like.

The only place in his house he really spent any time in was his room. Otherwise, he was either out at Tidus' house or just out.

He jammed his hands in his pockets as he headed down the streets to his house. He didn't really care much for the location. It was just down the street from the land bridge that led to Destiny Islands, where the rich and richer were all located.

Riku had never been to the islands before. He was quite happy living on the mainland and hanging with his friends. There were times when he wondered how the other half lived, but those times were few and far between.

He kicked a can out of his way and continued down the sidewalk, musing a bit. He was, of course, planning to lock himself up in his room for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe he could even get some work down on the art project he was doing for the art show.

Although that was due in two months and he had no idea what he wanted to make a statue _of_ exactly.

Mentally shrugging, he dug his keys out of his pockets and opened the door, walking into the house and kicking off his shoes. "Dad, I'm home."

"Bout time," Ichiro Masaki said irritably, glaring at Riku from his seat in the Lazy Boy armchair. Riku rolled his eyes and headed for the stairs immediately. "Hey, I'm not done talking to you boy!"

The white-haired boy stopped and turned, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, Dad?"

"What's that crap I found in your bedroom? Went in there looking for the remote and I found some giant slab of crap—"

"It's clay, Dad. I have to make a statue for the art show, remember? I told you about it last week?" Riku said in a tired voice, not in the mood for another one of his father's lectures about how art was not a good hobby for strong young men and how, with his hair being as long as it was, taking up art would only serve to make people think he was gay.

Riku couldn't imagine what his father would say if he knew that he really _was_.

"Of course I remember," Ichiro snapped, which, Riku knew, was code for he didn't want Riku to know that he had forgotten. "Just keep that shit off the floor. I pay the bills for this place, got it? I don't want it messy."

"Got it, Dad," Riku said with a tired sigh, jogging up the stairs. He walked into his room and closed the door behind him. His room was half bedroom, half art studio. The walls were covered in paintings and sketches that Riku had done, mobiles hung from the room, statues decorated the furniture. On his desk by the window was a giant slab of clay that he was supposed to make another masterpiece out of.

Better said than done.

Riku flopped down on his bed and sighed deeply, closing his eyes. He was tired as hell and could feel the beginnings of a head ache coming on.

Shaking himself out of it, he sat up in bed. He still had homework to do.

* * *

Sora watched Timmy Turner wish that there were no more girls on earth, stuffing his face with cheese doodles. He was lying on the huge couch in the living room, his eyes glued to the big screen TV. 

Sora had only been home for about two days now and his parents had yet to find him an acceptable new school. Therefore, it was easy living for him. Seiya had been very close to punishing him, but Yukito had stopped her.

Luckily for Sora, his father was still blaming the school for all of this.

Sora glanced up as his mother entered the room, swallowing his mouthful and smiling. "Morning, Mommy," he said in a childish voice, giving her a peek of the big baby blues.

Seiya rolled her eyes. "I'm not buying it, Sora. Do you know how much trouble you're giving us?" She paused. "And you're getting cheese stains all over the nice, white couch!"

"The maids will clean it up," Sora whined, not touching on the trouble subject. He was well aware of it and was trying his best not to push his luck. "Besides, you should be happy to have me home. I'm your son and you love me."

"You're my son and you just flunked out of school. Again," Seiya returned flatly. "I could voice my opinions on the subject, but it would lower your self-esteem."

"Thanks for sparing my feelings," Sora said sarcastically, lying back down and stuffing his mouth with another handful of cheese doodles. "How're you guys doing on the school thing?"

"Well… you've flunked out of all the schools on the islands," Seiya told him as she turned off the TV and took a seat on the couch by his head. She pulled Sora's head into her lap and started playing with his hair. "So, we're looking elsewhere."

"Where's elsewhere?" Sora asked, getting tired. He always began to get sleepy whenever people played with his hair. It was his secret weakness.

Seiya's voice dropped too low for Sora to hear. "Elsewhere like… the mainland…"

"That's nice," Sora yawned, closing his eyes and curling into a ball. He began dozing off a bit, barely conscious. Seiya slid Sora's head off her lap and watched him cling to the nearest pillow and whimper.

She shook her head and headed out of the room, meeting Yukito in the hallway. "He's asleep," she noted.

"Did you tell him?" Yukito asked. He was obviously unhappy. He didn't want his son going to some public school! For all he knew, Sora could get shot or robbed or mugged or raped or all three at once.

Yukito had never been one to associate with those who were 'blue-blooded'.

"Kind of," Seiya answered innocently, averting her eyes in a guilty manner.

Yukito rolled his eyes. "You put him to sleep, then whispered it didn't you?"

"…Maybe…"

Shaking his head, Yukito walked into the kitchen and picked up a pamphlet for the only school they'd found that was willing to take Sora in – Ayanami High School. It was a public school located on the mainland, which was bad enough since that was Poor People Country.

It was located way at the other side of the mainland, in the quote-unquote 'slums'.

Yukito shuddered just thinking about it. "Sora's going to die, isn't he?"

"Hey, stop imposing your prejudices on our son. Just because they don't live in houses that have more rooms than people doesn't mean they're stupid or dangerous or all pregnant and planning to steal things."

Yukito remained firm. "That's what _you_ say, but _I_ know the truth."

"Just call them up and tell them we accept. I'll tell Sora… eventually…"

"Meaning the day before he has to go?" Yukito asked, used to Seiya and her antics by now. Seiya grinned placidly.

"Exactly."

* * *

Riku wrote down some equations from the board and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to concentrate on the lesson. It was an incredibly hard to do since Mr. Obana's voice was about as interesting to listen to as static, but he was managing fairly well. 

He was sitting at the back of the room so it was either pay attention or read the writing scrawled on the desk. Option A was the better choice.

"Alright, tomorrow, we'll be having a quiz. Either come prepared or prepare to fail because there is _no_ excuse for missing it," Mr. Obana said as he concluded the class for the day. He frowned as he saw a hand rise and sighed. "Yes, Mr. Mihada?"

Riku glanced over at Tidus, noting the smirk on the boy's face. "What about extreme sexual exhaustion?"

The entire class broke out laughing and even Riku had to spare a few chuckles. Only Tidus would come up with something like that. He raised his aquamarine eyes to the teacher to wait for the reply, shooting Tidus an amused smile.

"Doesn't count," Mr. Obana answered with a roll of his eyes. "You can use your _other_ hand to write. Class dismissed."

Riku snorted, getting up and barely holding his laughter in. He saw Tidus' face turn a bright red as the class erupted in laughter again and shook his head, smirking. "Tch, poor Tidus. Just you and your left hand at home tonight?"

"Shut up, Riku," Tidus grumbled as he got up and grabbed his bag, glaring. "It's not my fault that guy has it out for me."

"It is your fault!" Riku corrected. "You keep provoking him."

They headed out of the lunch room and towards the cafeteria. Riku couldn't help letting a few snickers escape him. Pretty soon he was fully laughing, his laughter increasing as Tidus groaned and shoved him against the wall.

"Stop laughing at me, dammit!" the blonde demanded, pouting slightly. "You suck."

"Sorry, I don't look at you that way, dude," Riku said with another snort of laughter, rubbing the shoulder that Tidus had pushed. "You're way too loud for me."

Tidus gave him a flat look. "Thank you for the horrible images you just put into my head."

"Which one?" Riku asked cheekily, quickening his pace before Tidus could hit him again. He laughed and walked into the cafeteria, joining the long line and grabbing a tray for them both. He smirked over at Tidus. "So, speaking of romantic involvement…"

Tidus raised an eyebrow. "Who was talking about romantic involvement?"

"Well, now that you mention it," Riku cut in smoothly. "How are you doing on the girlfriend front?"

"I'll tell you once I get a girlfriend." Tidus scooped some mashed potatoes onto his tray and reached for a carton of milk, handing one to Riku. The white-haired boy set it on his tray and laughed.

"Still flying solo? That's so pathetic," he mocked as they headed to a table. "After all this time that I've known you, you haven't gone out with anyone… at all."

"You're one to talk! One girlfriend and then you decide girls aren't your thing," Tidus shot back with a roll of his eyes, sitting down. "So don't talk to me about pathetic love lives. Have you _found_ yourself a boyfriend? I didn't think so."

Riku pretended to bat his eyelashes. "Aww, but Tidy-poo, I thought we were an item? Together forever? Isn't that what you told me?"

"Okay, a, I was six at the time and b, even thinking of kissing you makes this…" Tidus ran a fork through the goop on his plate, making a face. "_Slop_ look appetizing."

Riku rolled his eyes and began digging through his own food, frowning a bit. Tidus stared at him for a moment before looking away and coughing. "What are you going to do for the art show? Is your dad coming?"

"Of course not," Riku answered flatly. "Who would want him there?"

"That was mean, ya," Wakka chimed in as he sat down at the table across from Tidus. The blonde boy immediately scowled, his eyes narrowing. Wakka blatantly ignored him. "I'm not that bad."

"That's a matter of opinion," Tidus muttered under his breath, sinking down in his seat and sulking. Riku rolled his eyes again.

"Calm down, Tidus," he said with a frown. "Wakka's our friend. Just because he plays blitzball better than you—"

"He does _not_—"

"—doesn't mean that he's the enemy. Do I have to leave you two alone to talk about your _feelings_?" Riku snickered at the twin glares he received. "…Is that a yes? Alright then." He left his tray and got up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and ignoring any and all protests from behind him as he walked away.

* * *

A few weeks later, it was hell in the Harada household. 

"You can't be serious!" Sora protested, his eyes flitting from one parent to the other. "You're sending me to a public school? With… _Poor_ people?"

Kairi was back by now from school on a small break while the lower grades took their midterms. She had, of course, gotten high grades as usual. She wasn't lacking in the brains department like her brother.

She rolled her eyes. "Sora, don't say that. Just because they're poor doesn't mean they're another species."

Sora gave his sister a look. "But, they're not just _poor_ people! They're from the slums!" he said, gesturing wildly. "Dad says that I'm going to be going to school with drug dealers and convicts and rapists—"

"Sora…" Seiya began.

"—And gangsters and pimps and shoplifters and—"

"Sora…"

"—End up dead in an alley with my money stolen and—"

Seiya clapped a hand over her son's mouth, sufficiently shutting him up. She rolled her eyes. "Since someone flunked out of their prep school—" Sora looked sheepish. "Then this is your only option."

"But I only failed, like, three—"

"Five," Kairi corrected, examining her nails and ignoring Sora's glare.

"_Five_ subjects. That's no reason to put my life in danger!" Sora finished, pouting slightly. "I thought you cared! I thought I was your son and the heir to the family fortune! I thought I meant something to all of you!"

Yukito rolled his eyes. "Son, if anyone touches you, we'll sue their ass."

"They're _poor_, Dad," Kairi reminded him, leaning her head against Seiya's arm and sighing. Why were the men in her family such imbeciles?

"So, we'll evict them or something. What does it matter? All you need to worry about is not failing. Again." Yukito gave Sora a hard look while his son merely blinked innocently. "This is your sixth school in the last five months."

"It's not my fault the stuff they were teaching us was extremely complicated," Sora protested, pouting once again. He brushed his fingers through his spiky brown hair and looked to his mother and sister for help.

Seiya merely shrugged. "Complicated or not, if you flunk out of school again, I'm afraid we'll have to home school you." Her lips curved into a smirk. "Here. All alone. With us. _All the time_."

Satisfied with the horrified look on her son's face, she smiled over at Kairi. "Want to go out to the garden for some cookies?"

"Yes, please," Kairi answered cheerfully. She began following Seiya out of the room, noting the hungry look on Sora's face. She winked at him. "I'll save you one if you get there in time."

Sora sighed as he watched them leave, then looked back at Yukito as he rested a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Now, son," Yukito began. "I know you're not happy about this. I'm not either. Poor people are _extremely_ uncivilized and probably either pregnant, dead, or planning to kill someone. But, I have a plan."

Sora blinked.

"If they find out you're rich, they'll eat you alive. So, you're going to tell a bald-faced lie."

Sora blinked again.

"You're going to pretend to be poor, too. If anybody asks if you're related to the Destiny Island Haradas, you will laugh and say 'no'."

"…Okay…?" Sora agreed hesitantly, wondering if his father was out of his mind. "Won't they get a bit suspicious when I arrive at school in the limo?"

"Who said you're taking the limo?"

Sora blinked uncomprehendingly. He took the limo _everywhere_. His father knew that. "What do you mean? Of course I'm taking the limo."

"No you're not," Yukito corrected. "You're taking the bus."

"…The bus?" Sora said blankly. "You mean that dirty, smelly thing with all those people on it and the bathroom that stinks like hell but everybody's too polite to say so?"

"Close, but no. That's the," Yukito shuddered. "_Public_ bus. I meant the other one."

"You mean that dirty, smelly thing with all of those people on it and no bathroom so you either have to go at home, or pee your pants because the bus driver drives really slow?" Sora tried again.

Yukito nodded. "Yes. That bus."

"Oh." Sora groaned. "_Great_."

* * *

**Author's Note Part II:** Next chapter, they actually meet! Plus Tidus meets Selphie (I think) and we get introduced to Leon and Cloud's situation. All I can say about Sora and Riku meeting is… Sora is very blunt and Riku is very amused. 

…Okay, yes, I'm procrastinating. So what?

**Next Update: **Part 002: The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most


	2. The Places You Have Come To Fear The Mos...

**Title:** Separate Lives

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Fiction Rating T:** 13+ Unverified. Contains content not suitable for children. Suitable for teens, 13 and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

**Disclaimer (To The Tune Of Take Me Out To The Ball Game):  
**Riku and Sora fanfics  
Make me squeal really loud  
Put them together I beg of you!  
I hear screaming and moaning from that room and  
Please keep loving this fandom  
The S/K shipping is dumb  
Because SHE IS A STUPID BITCH  
And we R/S shippers have FUN!

**Author's Note: **Heh, did you like my song? Let's see. Oh, right, I finally have a chapter plan for this story. And. Well. All I can say is… the Plot is evil. In fact, I think we should kill the plot right now. Not only do they not have sex at all in this story, but they also only kiss three times (without getting together I might add) and when they do get together… oh, wait, I really shouldn't ruin the story for you all. But, well, damn.

**Riku:** -glares at the plot-

**Sora:** -crying-

**Plot:** I love you, too.

**Addendum:** Oh, I'm glad you guys all picked up on that joke I threw in there! I found it at You guys are all so smart! Hee hee!

Also, chapters I'm really going to enjoy writing? Chapters four, seven, eleven, twelve, thirteen, sixteen and twenty-one. I think. I'm still re-writing things.

**P.S.:** This chapter is un-beta'd. Starberrie is _still_ busy and I can't very well post LOARD until I post this. There's a system! A system! Well, that and I _still_ haven't finished chapter 14.

**Thanks To:**

**Emerald Enchantress - **Nope. Other than randomly popping up to glare at Riku because she doesn't approve, Kairi isn't in this at all.

**Jenni's**** Heart of Gold - **Should I check your forehead for a fever? Obviously, you are either quite sick, or maybe you haven't read any of uzu's fanfics lately. I'm nowhere near as good as her!

**KHlover**** - **Yep. Tidus has 12 brothers and sisters. I can't remember if there's the same amount of girls as boys.

**KyokiXKurama**** - **Oh, don't feel bad for Tidus. He's thinking of forming his own basketball team or something cool like that.

**Sunshine Pie - **I've been going to private schools all my life! I needed Kari to help me out with all this public school stuff. How pathetic am I? P.S. I HATE THESE DAMN UNIFORMS.

**XxX**** Chains XxX - **You know, I seriously like my third person point of view better, too. First person is hard!

**Animekittnyan** – Sora's a bastard because his father raised him to be a bastard. Don't worry. With Riku's help, he'll grow to realize what a jerk he is and what a jerk his Daddy is. And then he'll get his heart broken. As for that second part… I like rich, spoiled brats?

**And also thanks to** RikuxSora, xcrossfirex, Shadow-Angel-of-Silence, DevilsThrill, PSYCH0tic, Momochi Zabuza, jaz7, Ben Jackson, kalizuta, LaDyPnAi, Elly Yuki, ChibiNekoSakura, Darkness Falls, no one special, Green Feathers, ChibiYuffie1, hikkix2, minamotogirl, MooNBlaDeR, LiLi-Sama, Staryday, Legolas19, kmwsweetness, kuramasgirl13, Riku's gurl, Tama-Kitsune, RuN-Fr0m-h3r3, Cafe Noir, WhiteLightning, Harauharu.

**Date Begun:** May 5, 2005 (CINCO DE MAYO!)

**Date Posted:** May 29, 2005

**002. The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most  
**Sora shuddered as he stood at the bus stop and waited for that big, yellow abomination to come and pick him up. His father hadn't been kidding about the limo thing, much to Sora's dismay. In fact, they went all out.

Sora was wearing one of his oldest white t-shirts and some jeans with holes in the knees (where the hell had his father found _that_!). His backpack had been manhandled until it looked old and ratty and his sneakers were extremely dirty.

But Sora had a tendency to do that to all white articles of clothing so that was okay.

He was positively miserable. He didn't want to go to _public_ school. Public schools were dirty and icky and filled with poor people who couldn't afford good dental hygiene or bath water. At least, that's what his father had told him and since Sora had never spoken to a poor person before, he had no way of disproving it.

Therefore, it had to be true.

He sighed as he saw the bus ambling towards the bus stop. He wasn't anywhere near Destiny Islands. In fact, he was on a street corner somewhat near to the land bridge that connected Destiny Islands to the Mainland. All apart of his 'pretend you're poor' image.

It was absolutely embarrassing. Sora had half a mind to sue his father. It was possible. He did have his own lawyer, in case of emergencies. Sora's emergency numbers growing up had been for the butler, the nanny, the lawyer, and the FBI.

The bus came to a stop. Sora wrinkled his nose. The bus wasn't yellow. It was practically black. When was the last time that thing had ever taken the time to drive through a car wash or something? And they expected him to get _on_ it? No way in hell.

An annoyed voice snapped him out of his self-pity. "Hey, kid, you're holding us up."

Sora looked up. Then he screamed. What was a giant, hairy hippopotamus doing driving a _bus_! That's it! Poor people were weird and scary and evil and were going to mate, multiply, evolutionize and kill all the rich people, then wallow in their own—Wait. That was a _woman_, not a hippo.

Woops.

Looking sheepish, Sora carefully stepped onto the bus and looked around. There were kids seated in almost all of the surprisingly clean seats, but Sora spotted an empty seat in the back and sat down by the window.

Now, if he could just survive the bus ride and then his first day of school, he'd be able to go home and plead with his parents again. All he had to do was take deep breaths, don't touch anything, and stay calm.

Most importantly, he would _not_ talk to any of the evil, nasty poor people.

"Hey."

Or maybe he would…

Sora jumped, clapping a hand to his heart and turning his head so fast he got whiplash. There he saw boy with snow white hair and blue-green eyes, who was wearing a regular blue t-shirt and jeans. Compared to him, _Sora_ looked poor.

"Um, yeah. My name's Riku. Riku Masaki. Could I sit here?" He asked, gesturing towards the rest of the bus and looking amused. "There's nowhere else."

Sora wrinkled his nose, raising an eyebrow. Well. He may have had to _talk_ to poor people, but there was no way he was _sitting_ with one until they got a few things straight. Sora was_ not_ getting involved in any illegal activities on his first day of school. "Are you a rapist?"

"Um," Riku said, slightly thrown off guard. "…No?"

"Are you sure?" Sora continued, pouting thoughtfully.

"Er, yes?"

"Oh, alright then. Sit."

Blinking in confusion and slight amusement, Riku took the seat next to Sora and shook his head, brushing the silky white strands out of his face. "You're a little strange in the head, aren't you?"

"Just a _little_." Sora admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head lightly. Riku chuckled and shook his head again. He dug through his backpack and pulled out a beat-up black sketchbook, opening it up and starting to draw.

Sora watched him for a moment or two before deciding spoke again. "Are you a convict?"

"No." Riku answered without looking up.

"Drug dealer?"

"No."

"A gangster?"

"No."

"Pimp?"

"…No."

"Shoplifter?"

"No."

Sora fell silent, seemingly satisfied. At least he wasn't sitting with one of those _crazy_ poor people. His father had warned him about them. Selling drugs in the bathroom – or taking them. Giving out answers to standardized tests. Having sex in empty classrooms.

Oh yes. Nobody could say Sora was ignorant. He knew all about their evil ways!

Riku blinked as he noticed the devilish smirk on Sora's face. The brunette was snickering maniacally under his breath. Riku raised an eyebrow and took the time to look Sora over. Ripped jeans, messy shirt, dirty backpack.

He couldn't help but feel that rush of pity that he so hated to get from others. This kid looked like he was the poorest of poor. Riku was afraid he'd start lending out money if Sora wore the same thing to school tomorrow.

Besides, Sora was somewhat cute. And those eyes…

Blinking those thoughts out of his head, he glanced down at his sketchbook only to realize that his hand had been drawing without the presence of his mind. And he'd been drawing Sora.

He quickly snapped the book shut as the brunette turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

Riku coughed, shifting uncomfortably. "Um, so, Sora, you're a new student, huh? How come you're coming so late in the year?"

Sora looked back out the window and muttered incoherently. Riku barely managed to make out the words, "…kicked out of school" and "…bastards…"

The older boy chuckled lightly. "You got kicked out of school? What'd you do?"

"Flunked out of my classes," Sora said with narrowed eyes. "What do you think I did? You poor people and your perverted—" He seemed to realize what he'd just said and began stuttering, "Um, I mean… I didn't do anything."

Riku raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing. Instead, he opened up his sketchbook again and let the crazy boy continue is insane ramblings.

Sora groaned and rested his head against the glass of the window. _Good job, Harada,_ he thought, _you're blending right in, now_.

* * *

Riku blew his snow white bangs out of his eyes and stared at the boy standing at the front of the room. After their… _interesting_ bus ride, Riku couldn't help but find Sora amusing.

Sora's cheeks were red and he looked very sheepish. No doubt, the _last_ thing he wanted was to be standing before a group of rude students who were whispering about him. He looked like all he wanted to do was blend into the background.

_Cute_.

"Um… um… my name is Sora Harada," he said in a low mutter. "I'm, um, fourteen years old and, er, I'm _not_ rich!"

Riku couldn't help but join in the laughter that erupted after that.

"Well, duh." Someone called out from the back. "Your clothes are evidence enough of that."

Tidus exchanged glances with Riku, then raised his hand. "You wouldn't happen to be related to the Destiny Island Haradas, would you?"

Sora flushed darkly. "Um, no. I, um, think they're mean, evil, rich, money-having people. Yeah."

Mr. Obana coughed, trying to hide the amused smile on his face. "Right. Okay, why don't you take that seat in the back behind Riku, hm? Riku, raise your hand."

"He knows who I am," Riku drawled lazily, stretching and putting his head down on the desk. "We've met."

Mr. Obana laughed, then pretended to look horrified. "Dear god, you didn't molest him did you?"

Riku gave Sora an amused look, a fake sultry expression on his face as he purred, "Not yet."

Sora was blushing so hard, he was afraid he'd stay red for the rest of his life and then he'd get entered in one of those freak shows as the Amazing Lobster Boy who couldn't stop blushing—

But he was getting a bit side-tracked.

He walked past the snickering students to the back of his room, sinking down in his seat and pulling out a notebook to hide his red face with. Riku turned in his seat, smiling softly.

"Hey, we were just kidding, you know? I'm not going to molest you." Riku reassured him, the smile widening. "I promise."

Sora met Riku's eyes over the top of his notebook and blushed all over again, disappearing behind the book once more.

Riku chuckled. "You're weird."

_Yeah,_ Sora thought darkly, _well, you're **poor** and that's way worse._

* * *

"You're kidding, right?" Tidus asked, his voice incredulous. "It's one thing to let Wakka sit with us, but the new kid is, like, freakish. And look at his clothes. How could his parents let him leave the house like that?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Tidus, he's a poor, unfortunate soul. The least we could do is take him under our wing and—"

"You think he's cute, don't you?" the blonde cut in, giving Riku a knowing look. When Riku didn't deny it, Tidus scoffed. "You're so predictable."

"Hff. The fact that I find him cute doesn't mean anything. He's straight; I can tell." Riku said, trying not to pout. Tidus would start mocking him and claim that he looked more like a puffer fish than a sad puppy in need of cuddling.

Riku could start on what _Tidus_ looked like when he made of his different faces, but he had manners.

"Fine, fine," Tidus conceded at last. "But I don't like this. There's something really off about that kid."

"Uh huh." Riku had spotted Sora over by the vending machine and had stopped paying attention to what Tidus was saying. He quickly headed over to the brunette, who was now pounding on the machine.

"Stupid… piece of crap… want my Cool Ranch Doritos… grr…" Sora muttered, hitting the machine even harder. "Stupid things worked at _my_ old school… then again, this one is really—" he finally took notice of Riku's presence and blinked. "Er?"

Riku chuckled and, with one intricately maneuvered strike from Riku's hand, the bag of chips fell down. He pulled it out and handed it to Sora, looking as friendly as possible. "Hey, Tidus – this is Tidus – and I were wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with us."

Sora's eyes switched from Riku's calm smile to the suspicious scowl on Tidus's face. Sora frowned right back. "You _and_ Tidus?"

"Well, mostly me," Riku amended, jabbing Tidus in the stomach to get the blonde to loosen up. "Ignore him. He's constipated."

"Um… that's nice…" Sora said, eyeing Tidus carefully. "As sweet as that offer is, I'm afraid I can't."

Riku frowned. "Why not? Are you eating with somebody else?"

"No," Sora corrected, holding his cool ranch Doritos protectively. "I just don't want to eat with you two. In there. With all those roaches and cafeteria food that could be someone's recycled _hand_ without us knowing."

"The cafeteria food isn't _that_ bad," Riku argued, seemingly unfazed by Sora's first comment. "Don't you think the Health & Safety board would have said something about that?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "How would they know?"

"Riku," Tidus said with a sigh of irritation. "I think it's pretty obvious he doesn't want to eat with us. I, however, am hungry. Let's leave Mr. Creepy to go rot in a corner."

Sora glared at him. "Mr. Creepy? What about you, Mr. Fanny Pack?" He pointed at the article hanging around Tidus's waist. "I don't know if you were aware of this, but those went out of style with bonnets and Mary Janes."

"Oh yeah? And, what, did you roll in mud before you came to school or is it that your parents can't afford to feed you?" Tidus retorted.

"Ha. This coming from somebody who lives in the worst part of the neighborhood ever? Wow, I am so wounded."

Riku blinked, watching the two exchange insults back and forth and feeling an impending headache coming on. Okay. Sora didn't want to eat with him. But he sure did seem to like instigating him a lot.

Tidus clenched his fists. "That's it, you brunette baby! You want to take this outside?"

"I'm sorry," Sora said in a snobbish tone that fit him much too well for Riku's liking. "But I'm too straight for you."

"THAT'S IT!"

Riku quickly grabbed Tidus's collar and tugged him back before he was able to land a punch anywhere on Sora's body. The brunette's eyes flicked over to meet Riku's. "Why'd you stop him?" he asked, frowning. "Aren't you pissed at me, too?"

"Not really, no," Riku answered, ignoring Tidus' shouted protests. "I've learned that the way a person acts generally says a lot about their home life. No offense, but it sounds like your parents taught you to look down on others. That's not cool."

"You looked down on me first!" Sora announced fiercely, a glare firmly in place. "You're taller than me, dammit!"

Riku blinked. Then he started laughing. Even Tidus had forgotten his anger and was letting a few chuckles escape his lips. Riku finally let go of Tidus' collar and allowed the blonde to stand on his own.

Shrugging, Tidus turned. "Let's go. If he doesn't want to eat with us, he doesn't want to eat with us."

"Yeah, alright," Riku said, albeit extremely reluctantly. "Catch you in class, Sora."

"Bye bye, welfare victims!"

Tidus tensed up, but Riku grabbed his shoulder and steered him towards the cafeteria. Irritated, Tidus muttered, "He has the nerve to call _us_ welfare victims when he looks like my mom after an all-nighter. Pfft."

* * *

Leon was exhausted.

Teaching wasn't something he'd particularly wanted to do when growing up, but after he headed to college, he could see nothing else that interested him.

Besides, one glare from him was more than enough to shut up any rowdy bunch of students. However, he hadn't had a free period to himself all day until now and he planned on savoring it, dammit.

He poured himself a cup of coffee, no sugar added, and took a sip as he looked at his companion. Yuffie Ayanami was the very enthusiastic gym teacher and also one of his childhood friends. The frown on his face as he looked at her didn't bother her at all. She'd be scared if he was smiling.

"…and then the ball flew over and slammed into my head!" Yuffie concluded, laughing much too happily for anybody who was beamed in the head with a basketball. "It was hilarious! I was dizzy for a while two minutes."

"That's nice," Leon said calmly, taking another sip of his tea. He glanced at the bulletin board where the principal was prone to leaving notes for the teachers and raised and eyebrow. "We have a new teacher?"

"Mhmm," Yuffie confirmed as she rummaged through the fridge for some chocolate cake. "New student, new teacher. It's a day of wonderful surprises, don't you think?"

Leon glanced at the note again. "Yeah, whatever."

"You know what? You need to smile more," Yuffie said, placing her hands on her hips and looking at him. "I haven't seen you smile since… since high school!"

"Well," Leon stated, his eyes darkening considerably. "A lot of things have changed since high school."

Yuffie smiled sympathetically. "You miss him, don't you?"

Leon didn't even bother to acknowledge her question. He merely took another sip of his coffee and sighed. He walked over to the table and took a seat, pulling out tests papers and starting to grade them.

"Well, if you miss him so much then you shouldn't have accused him of sleeping around in the first place," Yuffie said placidly, going back to digging through the fridge.

Leon made a noncommittal noise, focusing all his attention on the tests.

Yuffie, having found her cake, hopped up onto the table and sat on it cross-legged as she watched him work.

Leon glanced up at her. "Don't you think you should act a bit more professional?"

"I'm a gym teacher!" Yuffie said with a laugh. "Being 'professional' means being hot, sweaty, and loud. Kind of like sex."

Leon choked on his coffee.

Giggling, Yuffie hopped off the table and pretended to sashay her hips as she walked towards him. She knew Leon was as gay as the sky is blue, but she just loved to get him flustered. They were so comfortable with each other that there were never any awkward moments after her little 'seductions'.

She leaned over him in the chair and placed her hands on either side of him, smirking. "Don't you think?"

Leon, who had finally regained the ability to breathe, was now glaring stonily at her. "Don't I think what?"

"That being a gym teacher is kind of like sex?"

"Are you trying to confess to being a pedophile, Coach Ayanami?" Leon asked with a raised eyebrow as Yuffie toyed with a lock of his hair. He had his composure back and he'd be damned if he let her catch him off guard again.

"Well, considering I'm four years younger than you," Yuffie teased, trailing her fingers up his chest. "Then wouldn't that make _you_ the pedophile?"

Leon opened his mouth retort, but the teacher's lounge room door opened and a shocked gasp followed. "Oh, uh, I didn't know there were… er… sorry…"

Yuffie started laughing, while Leon merely looked as calm as he could, turning to see who had walked in.

His jaw dropped.

"Cloud?"

* * *

Sora sighed as he stared up at the sky. He was outside in the school yard, which couldn't even hope to compare to his prep school's. However, he had managed to find a fairly decent patch of grass to lie down on, which was where he was now.

He frowned slightly. He'd made it half-way through school already and he'd gathered that he _really_ couldn't stand that Riku Masaki.

_"No offense, but it sounds like your parents taught you to look down on others. That's not cool."_

Hff. How dare he judge Sora like that! Some people were just so snobby. Walking around like he was so high and mighty, laughing at Sora every chance he got…

How _annoying_.

Sora sighed again. If he had to be truthful, the real reason he hated that stupid Riku was because of how absolutely… kind he seemed. Poor people were supposed to be like Tidus – mean, rude, and scowling.

Not… not nice and friendly with really pretty eyes and hair that smelled like strawberries. Not that Sora was sniffing Riku's hair in class or anything.

Because he wasn't.

Well, not _really_. Riku hadn't seemed to notice anyway.

"Lowly freshman," said a familiar voice from behind him. "Wherefore art thou out hither when thou couldst be inside amongst friends?"

Sora leaned his head back until he could see a pair of sneakers, then looked up to see Riku looking down at him in amusement. He frowned. "What do you want?"

"I have come to grace you with my presence," Riku answered with a grin as he laid down on the ground next to the sulking brunette. The older boy raised an eyebrow. "Why so glum?"

"I don't like you," Sora said bluntly.

Riku grinned. "I noticed."

Sora glared at him, but Riku did nothing but beamed back at him. Pretty soon, Sora gave up and looked back at the sky, a hopeless look on his face.

Stupid, annoying Riku.

"So, do you always stay outside during lunch?" Riku asked, sitting up and opening his backpack. "I brought you some food to prove your misconceptions about our cafeteria food wrong."

"Oh, sure. Use big words like 'misconceptions' to confuse the new kid," Sora retorted, sitting up at the prospect of food. He watched Riku pull out a salad, two bologna and cheese sandwiches, an ice cream sundae, eight chocolate chip cookies and two cans of cherry coke. He tilted his head to the side. "You brought all this for me?"

"Well, I haven't eaten yet," Riku confessed, grabbing a sandwich. "I figured we could share and, you know, eat lunch together."

Sora fought down the urge to smile and instead narrowed his eyes. "Why are you being so nice to me? Aren't you supposed to be all rude and evil and shoving me into lockers and trying to take my lunch money or something?"

"I could do that," Riku amended. "But I think I'd much rather see you smile than glare at me all the time. Like you're doing right now."

Sora eased up on his glare and took a sandwich, carefully biting off a small piece in case his father was right and they were poisoned. When he didn't taste anything out of the ordinary, he took a bigger bite.

Whoa. The food was actually non-lethal. Not the best he'd ever eaten, but he didn't feel like dropping down dead or anything like that.

_Whoa_.

"Thank you, Riku," Sora muttered uncomfortably as he swallowed another bite. "I didn't really have breakfast. I'm starving."

Riku raised an eyebrow, eating his own sandwich. "So, why didn't you just come eat lunch with us? Or at least eat?"

Sora stared at the ground and didn't answer.

Sighing, Riku ate some more and didn't push the subject. Sora was harder to talk to than Tidus was when Wakka was around. Both of them got tense and clammed up, not making for good conversation at all.

He pulled out his sketchbook and began drawing absently since Sora didn't appear to want to say anything else. The brunette leaned closer in order to see what he was doing and Riku caught a whiff of chocolate.

He vaguely wondered if Sora tasted like chocolate, too, then expelled such thoughts from his mind before it showed on his face.

Sora frowned slightly. "You're an artist?"

"I suppose so," Riku answered, his pencil moving delicately across the page with practiced skill. "If what I do can be called art."

"I can't draw," Sora said, wrinkling his nose and smiling slightly. "I tried to draw a picture of my mom once, but she said I made her look like a fat, hairy pig." He laughed a bit. "I didn't do it on purpose, though. I love my mom."

"I love my mom, too," Riku muttered tersely. Sora blinked, wondering why the white-haired boy sounded so hostile. Scowling, he went back to his food, blatantly ignoring Riku until he got an apology.

He didn't get one. Riku closed his sketchbook and stood up, grabbing a cookie. "Later, Sora. I'll walk you home after school, okay?"

Sora muttered a quick "whatever" as Riku walked back inside the school building, then slumped his shoulders. He should have known not to be so hopeful. Poor people were bad and they snapped at you when you brought up their mothers!

Oddly disappointed, he went back to the food, scooping a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and mulling over the conversation to figure out what he'd done wrong.

He nearly choked on his spoon.

Walk him home after school? _Damn_!

* * *

Yuffie hummed cheerfully as she hurried down the hallway. School had just ended and there were still many kids hanging around. She had exactly one hour and thirty minutes before she had to show up to coach the soccer team.

One hour and thirty minutes was plenty of time.

She pushed open the door to the World History classroom, beaming at the blond-haired man she saw beaming at the desk. Then she attacked the aforementioned man. "CLOUDSTER!"

Cloud smiled slightly at the assault, the chair wobbling slightly from their combined weights. He let her squeeze the life out of him, then helped her to her feet, running his fingers through his hair. "Yuffie. Long time no see."

"Well, whose fault is that?" Yuffie asked in mock indignation. "Just because your boyfriend called you a scarlet woman doesn't mean you need to avoid me, too. I'm friends with both of you!"

Cloud winced guiltily.

Noting this, Yuffie turned the dramatics on high and even got her eyes to water a little. "I just… can't believe you abandoned me like that. And what was that in the teacher's lounge, huh? You just bolted off without saying hi. That hurt, Cloud. Does our friendship mean that little to you?"

Cloud winced again. "Yuffie…"

"So," she continued forlornly, before she broke out into a wide grin. "I think you should take me down to the café tomorrow for a little heart-to-heart. Your treat, of course!"

Cloud's left eyebrow twitched and he glared at her. "That was _not_ funny, Yuffie."

"I thought it was!" The brunette countered with a laugh. "It's your own fault for being so stiff! Loosen up! Relax! We're in our prime! What're you? The same age as Leon and he's four years older than me so you are… Twenty-seven! That's more than enough time to go out, have a little fun, and get into Leon's pants!"

"I don't _want_ to get into Leon's pants," Cloud said, frowning. "We were over a long time ago. I've moved on."

Yuffie's eyes lit up with the promise of incoming gossip. "Oh, dish! Who did you hook up with? Are you married? I didn't see a ring! Is there a Mrs. Stryfe? Or maybe… a Mr. Stryfe?"

"No," Cloud stated flatly. "I just meant that I'm over him. I _will_ take you to the café, though. Maybe around four o'clock? I feel bad, keeping in touch with Aerith, but not you."

"That's probably 'cause Aerith's got the hots for you and I don't," Yuffie muttered, perfectly aware that Cloud could here her (and was now glaring at her once again). "When _Leon_ had the hots for you, you never left his house. Did you ever come visit me? Noo."

Cloud twitched. "Yuffie?"

"Hm?"

"Get out of my classroom."

* * *

Mission one: complete.

Yuffie's eyes were practically radiating mischief. She couldn't help it. She loved to be sneaky. And, boy, was this ever sneaky.

She sighed a bit, wishing Aerith was there with her. They made the best team: Aerith came up with the plans in that calm, wise way of hers and Yuffie carried them out in that stealthy in-and-out-in-a-flash way of hers.

All in all, they made a perfect balance.

However, Aerith had gone off to college with Cloud and Yuffie had gone to a different university with Leon. She hadn't heard hide nor hair of either of them.

That is, until today. She had to resist the urge to squeal. After such a bad parting, she was _excited_ to have Leon and Cloud back together. Oh, the trouble she could cause.

"Leeeeon, my looove," she called in a sing-songy voice, pulling open the door to the English classroom. Leon was busy packing up his things and didn't even bother to look up at her as she walked in.

"What?" Leon asked a bit harsher than he intended. However, he didn't make any apologies. It unnerved him to see Cloud again after all these years and was seriously putting him on edge. It was going to take a bunch of sleeping pills for him to even hope to get any rest tonight.

"Well, I was just wondering," Yuffie said in a wounded voice. "If you wanted to come get some food with me tomorrow. I mean, you looked so upset and I just wanted to make sure you were okay… yet, here you are… so cruel to me…"

Leon stared at her.

Damn, she thought. He knew her so well that her displays no longer worked on him. She quickly switched to a different tactic.

"Okay, fine. Don't meet me down at the café tomorrow at," she paused quickly to weigh the time. "Four thirty. I mean, whatever. I can always just post those pictures of you at that New Year's party back in high school on the school webpage. No skin off my nose."

Leon glared. "I hate you."

"I love you, too," Yuffie said, beaming and pinching his cheek. His glare intensified, but she merely laughed airily and let him go as she flounced out of the room. She closed the door behind her and pumped her fist into the air.

"YES! Mission two: complete!" She shouted, attracting the attention of the crowds of students around her. She blinked, looking at all of them, then looked coy. "Yeah, I know I'm hot. Stop staring, you hormonal pigs."

Laughing evilly, she raced off down the hall.

* * *

Had to get out of school. Had to get out of school _fast_.

Sora's mind was racing. He _had_ to get out of the school building before Riku found him. Exactly how was he going to maintain that he wasn't related to his family if he led them right up to his front door?

His father wouldn't take kindly to that and Sora certainly didn't want any filth in his house.

He quickly shoved his books into his backpack and closed his locker door, making a mad dash for the front door. _Had to get away.__ Had to get away. Had to—_

"Sora! Wait up!"

Dammit.

Sora froze, swallowing and looking over his shoulder. Riku and Tidus were heading in his direction – one scowling, one confused.

"Where were you headed so fast?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow at the brunette. Sora made no reply and merely gaped at them like a fish out of water.

Tidus smirked. "I think I like you better when you're silent."

"Hey!" Sora protested, finding his voice. "Listen to me, you sorry blonde excuse for a—"

"Cut it out, you two," Riku interrupted, placing a hand on Sora's shoulder and steering him towards the door. "Let's just walk Sora home and get this over with."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Tidus muttered under his breath, glaring at Sora when Riku wasn't looking. "As long as he keeps his mouth shut."

Sora ignored him, getting nervous again. What was he going to do? He couldn't very well lead these people straight to his house! He swallowed a bit, starting to walk in some random direction until he could figure out what to do.

He glanced upwards, noticing that they were heading back to the bus stop where he'd first been standing that morning. Upon further inspection, he noticed a faintly familiar house right behind the bus stop. An idea formed in his mind.

"Well, here we are!" he said loudly with a nervous laugh. "My house! A thing of beauty, isn't it?"

Riku and Tidus exchanged glances. "Uh, Sora," Riku piped up. "I know this house. The only person who lives there is the crazy cat lady and her cats."

Sora didn't let up. "Hey! Don't talk about my… er… grandmother that way! She was kind enough to, um, take me in after, er, my parents died in that horrible car crash so, uh, don't be so mean!"

Tidus narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Oh, really? Can we come in and say hi?"

"No," Sora lied quickly. "The cats don't like you. They say you smell like dog."

Riku held up a hand before Tidus could make a reply and smiled slightly. "Now I see where you get your strangeness from. It's a family trait."

"Right. Okay, well, bye!" Sora hurried over to the house, relieved to find the front door open, and slammed it behind him.

He could still hear Tidus and Riku talking outside. "Weirdo."

"He's not weird. He's just… probably still going through the trauma of losing his parents?"

"Mhmm, sure. I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow, dude."

"Yeah, bye."

Sora waited until their voices faded away before he allowed himself to relax and look around. And all he saw were… cats.

And an old lady standing three yards in front of him with a broom poised to slam him on the head with.

"Hands up, you hooligan!" the old woman said, eyeing Sora suspiciously. She had a distinctive Osakan accent, much like his mother's. "My cats _said_ there was someone in the house. How did you get in?"

Getting bashed in the head by poor people wasn't high on Sora's list of things to do, so he put his hands in the air and swallowed. "Um, your front door was open."

The old woman waved the broom dangerously close to Sora's abdomen. "I've got nothing worth stealing so get on out!"

"I didn't come to rob you, ma'am! I need your help!" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a one thousand dollar bill which, to him, was worth as much as a penny. "If I pay you, will you pretend I live here?"

The old woman eyed him again, then nudged one of her cats with the broom. The cat stalked over to Sora, retrieved the bill and brought it back to her master before lying down on the floor and mewling softly.

The woman sniffed it. "Hey… this is real!" she eyed him. "You a rich kid?"

"Yeah…"

"Destiny Island boy?"

"Yeah…"

"What family?"

"Harada."

"A Harada?" the woman's eyes lit up. "Oh, I do so love your mother. She's such a darling. I'd be glad to help you, boy! I'm Mrs. Yamazaki. Come, have tea with me and my cats!"

Sora blinked. "Okay…"

"Oh, and here, take this back," she handed the money back to him and started walking down the hallway. "This I'll do for free!"

Sora blinked again as he pocketed his allowance. For _free_…?

* * *

Tidus dug his hands into his pockets as he quickly made his way home. He wanted to get home in time to make dinner for his brothers and sisters before they got home from the nanny. He was just glad their father was still paying alimony or they'd probably be out on the streets by now.

He didn't usually come this way to be honest. This was the long way home. But he felt he needed the time to clear his head and calm down before he accidentally snapped at somebody. He blamed that Sora bastard for pissing him off.

He acted so damn high and mighty about everything! It took all of Tidus' self-control not to bash the kid's brains out. Well, that and the fact that Riku wouldn't allow for any arguments between them.

Damn Riku and his peacemaking ways. One of these days, Tidus was going to burn one of his sketchpads and see if the white-haired boy didn't want to start a war then.

He paused in his walking as he heard music coming from a building and turned, peering at it. "The Paris Dance Studio…" he read, stepping closer and looking through the glass.

His breath caught in his throat.

Inside, was a lone girl wearing a black leotard and matching skirt, white stockings and black ballet shoes. Her hair was done up into two buns on the top of her head and she was twirling gently around like a ballerina.

She was _beautiful_. And so graceful… like some kind of angel on earth.

He took a deep breath and blinked, surprised to find his heart was pounding fast. He didn't have time for something stupid like this. He had to go home and take care of his siblings.

Oh, but he'd _really_ love to stay and watch that angel dance.

He continued peering through the glass for a moment longer, noticing that the girl's bright green eyes were now fixed on him. He watched as she smiled brightly, then turned around and bent over, sticking her tongue out at him.

Tidus chuckled. Stupid angelic imp.

He stepped closer to the glass and mouthed the words, "What's your name?"

"Selphie," she mouthed back before going back to her twirling. He smiled softly. _Selphie_.

He checked his watch and cursed. Now he was lately, dammit! He ran off towards home quickly, still smiling.

"Wonder if I'll ever see her again…" he said to himself as he ran. Heh. He didn't really mind taking this way home again tomorrow. Or the next day.

Or, you know, forever.

* * *

Sora set a bowl of milk down in front of one of the gray cats, then headed back over to the table where Mrs. Yamazaki was busy placing two grilled cheese sandwiches. He still couldn't believe the woman was actually being nice enough to help him out.

And it wasn't even because of his money! That made two things about poor people that his father was wrong about.

He'd even gotten used to the cats in every single room after awhile. They were all kind of cute. Although, they'd probably be really hard to name since there were practically eighty of every type of cat ever.

"Come, come, boy! Sit! Eat!" Mrs. Yamazaki said cheerfully as she sat down. Sora plopped down on the surprisingly un-ratty chair and took a bite out of his sandwich.

_Delicious_.

"I didn't know Seiya had a son. I thought she only had two daughters: Kairi and Sora," the woman continued in an oddly amused voice, beginning to eat as well. Sora flushed. He was well aware that his name was a girl's name.

"_I'm_ Sora," he murmured in embarrassment, eating some more. "My mom thought the name really fit me."

Mrs. Yamazaki looked like she was trying not to laugh. "It does. You're prettier than any girl I've ever seen."

Sora flushed even more. Quick to change the subject, he looked around. "So, where's Mr. Yamazaki?"

"Sitting on top of my dresser," she said calmly. "He's dead. We had him cremated."

Sora bowed his head respectfully. "I see. Sorry, I had no idea."

"Oh, there's no use dwelling over the past, m'boy! I'm all about the future! I haven't got all the time in the world left, you know!" Mrs. Yamazaki said with a laugh, setting her sandwich down and getting up to pour them some tea.

Sora watched her go, curiously. "Er… how do you know my mother?"

"Oh, I used to be her nanny before she went off and got married to that Yukito bastard. Never liked him. He wouldn't let me into the house after he found out I was poor. Bet he probably told Seiya that I moved away or something," the old woman said scornfully. "No offense, son, but your father is a pigheaded bastard."

"Um."

She turned and raised an eyebrow. "Which reminds me. What exactly is a Harada doing in this part of town? I was under the impression that you people never left your nice, rich little islands."

"I-I… I flunked out of prep school and the local public school was the only one that could take me in so late in the year. Dad told me to pretend I was poor, too, so I wouldn't get mugged or anything," Sora said rapidly, flushing again. "A-and these two boys kept trying to make friends with me and they decided to walk me home and I couldn't very well take them to my real house so…"

"You ran in here because it's right in front of the bus stop?" Mrs. Yamazaki filled in. "How like a Harada to be so resourceful. You're exactly like your mother, alright. Of course, technically, she wasn't born a Harada. She was born a Yamazaki."

Sora blinked.

Then he stared.

"Grandma…?"

"Yes…?" Mrs. Yamazaki hummed, a practically evil smirk on her face. Sora just gaped at her. "Bet your father never told you that, either, huh?"

"…This is just too weird. You're not my grandmother! You planned this, didn't you?" Sora accused. "You moved in right here because you knew I'd flunk out of prep school and run into your house! Admit it! You're a psychic alien monster!"

Mrs. Yamazaki laughed. "Exactly like your mother. _Actually_, I moved here because of all the cats. I love cats."

Sora was still glaring at her suspiciously. Mrs. Yamazaki sighed.

"Your middle name is Arima," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing again.

"Gramma!" Sora suddenly shouted, jumping his grandmother with a happy laugh. "I haven't seen you since… actually, I've never seen you!"

Mrs. Yamazaki laughed. "I've seen you. When you were just a little baby. I was at the hospital with your mother. Seiya did bring you over here once. Only once. After that, your father got involved and I haven't seen you since."

Sora pulled back and beamed. "Thanks for helping me, grandma. Now I _know_ I can pull this off. Harada/Yamazaki style!"

"Power to the people!" his grandmother laughed as they gave each other a congratulatory high-five. Sora checked his watch.

"I've got to get home. My real home. I'll see you tomorrow morning!" he grabbed his backpack and quickly petted a cat before racing out the door.

Mrs. Yamazaki smirked as she watched him go. Yukito was going _down_.

* * *

Kari: "Okay, that officially makes Sora the worst liar in _history_."  
Slashy: "Or the most slightly honest person ever, completely by coincidence."

**Next Update:** Part 003: Are You True?


	3. Are You True?

**Title: **Separate Lives

**Author: **Slashapalooza

**Fiction Rating T:** 13+ Unverified. Contains content not suitable for children. Suitable for teens, 13 and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

**Translation:** You shouldn't let your brothers and sisters read this because it could include violent behavior or speech, bad words that they will repeat in front of your parents, and sexual humor that you'll have to explain to them—_then_ they'll repeat in front of your parents.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I wish I owned Riku and Zexion, the sexy Organization member that the Riku copy killed. But sadly, I don't. So I'm left to admire these silver-haired angels from afar. Oooh, man, are they sexy. Mm. Now if only my PS2 hadn't gotten stolen, I'd be able to play KH2 when it comes out and stare at Zexion and Riku as much as I want.

Damn thieves. They should be arrested and strung up in the streets. I WANT MY PS2 BACK! THIS IS CHILD ABUSE! CHILD ABUSE!

**Author's Note: **Yeah, yeah, I'm lazy. Really lazy. But I always update eventually, don't I? It's actually kind of fun. I've never had a fan base before. I don't quite know what to do now that I have so many people, um, adoring me. It makes me kind of… blushy. But happy.

And, um. Er. Yeah.

**Thanks To:**

Lelith, Omnimalevolent, Riku's-Kitsune-Mate, MusigMistress, Tifa-sama, King Mana, Rou-chan, tomboy101, Wends, The Kawaii Rijekuto, Kris Destiny, takenawayone, animekittynyan, Sugahlei, RuN-Fr0m-h3r3, Queen of the Paperclips, DevilsThrill, MariQ, jaz7, FREAKnLOSER, akuma-river, ChibiNekoSakura, AirbenderSora, KyokiXKurama, Lain of the Weird, Hatsuharu, WhiteLightning, kmwsweetness, RikuxSora, Zract, and Shikuu Hitome.

**Date Begun: **July 30, 2005

**Date Posted:** August 12, 2005

**003. Are You True?  
**Riku was waiting for him as soon as he got out of his grandmother's house. However, Sora didn't even bat an eyelash. He simply hissed, "Stalker," and went to stand beside the bus stop, completely ignoring the white-haired boy.

"Well, good morning to you, too," Riku muttered, sounding as though he was sulking. "I even brought you a bagel out of the goodness of my heart, but what do I get? Snark at 7 in the morning."

Sora glanced over his shoulder at the perfectly clean and edible looking bagel in Riku's hand, then at Riku himself. "You brought that for me?"

"Yes."

"Is it poisonous?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

Sora looked horrified. Then Riku began to laugh and the horrified look faded into one of righteous indignation. "That was _not_ funny."

"I thought it was," Riku said, throwing the bagel to Sora and taking out one of his own. "Me and Tidus never have time to eat breakfast, so we usually alternate grabbing something from the deli near our houses. Today was my day so I figured I'd bring one for you, too, in case you didn't have breakfast either."

Sora took a bite of his bagel and looked out at the street. He _hadn't _had breakfast, although Grandma Yamazaki _had _tried to throw some eggs in his mouth. However, he'd missed it and it'd landed on one of the cats instead. Muffin hadn't been very happy; the scar on Sora's leg proved that.

"Thanks," he said reluctantly. "You're very... considerate."

"Just trying to loosen you up. The entire world's not against you, you know, no matter what your parents taught you," Riku replied amiably, sitting down on the curb and taking a bite of his bagel.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before a very dazed looking blond crossed the street and headed over them. Tidus, naturally, ignored Sora completely and dropped down on the curb next to Riku, holding out his hand for his bagel. Riku handed it to him and Tidus wasted no time in taking a huge bite.

"Did you get lucky last night or something? You're glowing," Riku said bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

Sora's face began to turn a pink color and he turned his head, trying not to listen to anymore of the conversation. His father hadn't mentioned raging perverted sex-addicts, but he _had _mentioned crack whores. Maybe Tidus was a crack whore?

"Something like that. It's just, I was walking home and I saw this really amazing girl..." Tidus said in a daydreamy sort of way. "She was beautiful."

"Did you talk to her?"

"Uh... well... no..."

"Interact with her in anyway?"

"I... um... mouthed my name and she mouthed hers back?"

Was that secret code for they spent all night making out? Mixing it up? Licking? Banging?

"Wow," Riku deadpanned. "Although, for you, that is a serious accomplishment."

"Shut up," Tidus snapped, devouring half his bagel. Sora made a face. Did he even chew? Did sex give you that much of an appetite?

Someone up there really liked Sora because the familiar sound of the bus approaching soon filled the air. Tidus and Riku wrapped up their bagels and Sora, who had finished his in nine and a half bites, just tossed his wrapped in the nearest trash bin and followed the two porn stars onto the bus.

* * *

**_You look… conscious. –Riku_**

Sora stared at the note that had just fallen onto his desk, then over his shoulder at Riku. However, the older boy was bent over his notebook, scribbling something that couldn't have anything to do with the class considering he was smiling and all.

Somewhat confused, Sora ripped a page out of his notebook and picked up his pen.

**_Barely._****_ Maybe if they put a little more effort into their teaching, I wouldn't fail so much. Anyway, stop passing notes in class. It's rude and I'm trying to learn. – Sora_**

He flicked the note over his shoulder and looked back at the board, trying to memorize the name of some samurai during the Meji Era that blah blah blahly really blah.

That is, until another piece of paper landed on his hand. He rolled his eyes and opened it.

**_Oh, sure, because that incredibly bad picture of the teacher that you're drawing has soooo much to do with the lesson. –Riku_**

Sora tossed the note back with a simple reply.

**_Shut up. –The Guy Who Hates Your Guts_**

Sora ignored the next note that landed on his desk and merely brushed it onto the floor, giving Riku The Finger over his shoulder before staring out the window. He heard a quiet chuckle from behind him before Riku wised up and left him alone.

Sora didn't know what Riku's deal was. He seemed to be Mr. Personality, clinging to Sora every chance he got. Honestly, it was kind of getting on Sora's nerves. He wasn't there to make friends. He was there to learn until his father found him a better, more decent school to go to. One that was clean and poor-people free.

Although, Sora didn't too much like his prep schools. Everybody there was a total snob and they were always picking on him because he was scrawny and sort of girly looking (which Sora seriously resented because he did not, in any way, shape or form, resemble a girl).

At least here, people more or less ignored him. If they weren't poor, he might of actually been enjoying himself.

Of course, he could never tell his father that. His Dad might have a heart attack and die and it would be all Sora's fault. Grandma Yamazaki, though… she'd probably be delighted. And then dance around with the cats.

Sora still had a little trouble believing he was related to the town's crazy cat lady. Everywhere he went in that house was another cat whose tail he stepped or that he'd just tripped over. It was a wonder Sora hadn't bled to death yet.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts. Riku leaned forward. "Want to eat lunch with me again today?"

Sora repressed the urge to shiver at Riku's breath on his ear. Shiver out of anger, of course. Anger. "You say that like I have a choice."

"I figured you may as well come willing today," Riku replied, amused. "And I'll take that as a yes."

To the extreme gratitude of Sora's body, he sat back in his seat and the warm breathing disappeared.

* * *

"So," Cloud said as he wrote the words 'rape' on the board. "Who can tell me what this word means?"

The teens in the room stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was for real. Then, someone in the back raised their hand and said, "Uh… screwing someone without their consent?"

"Very good," Cloud replied, writing the word 'pillage' under the word 'rape'. "Who can tell me what this word means?"

Another hand went up. "To rob of goods or spoils?"

"Excellent." The word 'plunder' joined the list. "And who knows what this word means?"

Another hand. "To steal?"

"Great. And the one thing all these words have in common is…" Cloud wrote 'Pirates' at the top of the list. "That is what pirates got to do every day of their lives. Rape women, pillage villages, and plunder treasure and ships."

"_Awesome_," the class said in unison.

"Exactly," Cloud replied. "Until they got their heads chopped off by the police." The bell rang. Cloud smiled at the horrified looks on his class's faces. "Tomorrow, we'll cover famous pirates and how they met their untimely deaths. Have a nice day."

He checked his watch after the last student had left. It was lunch time. However, he didn't want to go to the teachers' lounge. After all, Leon was probably in there and he didn't want to interrupt anything.

Or talk to Leon at all.

Sighing, he shuffled out into the hallway to go grab something from the vending machine in the cafeteria and eat it in his classroom.

"CLOUD! CLOUD! CLOUDSTER!" called an enthusiastic voice from behind him. Cloud turned, unsurprised to see Yuffie standing there. "Cloooooooud, can you help me?"

"Help you do what?" Cloud asked cautiously.

"Help me by giving me Aerith's cell phone number. I seriously need to talk to her," Yuffie said, her eyes shining mysteriously. "Just write it here." She held out her hand.

Cloud rolled his eyes and pulled a pen from his pocket, jotting down Aerith's cell phone number and then sticking the pen back in his pocket.

"Where're you going, anyway? The teachers' lounge is the other way," Yuffie asked, jogging to keep up with Cloud's long strides.

"Yeah, but the cafeteria is this way and doesn't have Leon in it."

Yuffie looked sympathetic. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," Cloud said sarcastically. "_That's_ why I'm avoiding him like the plague. Shouldn't you be in his lap, molesting him about now?"

Cloud was well-aware nothing was going on between Yuffie and Leon. He knew for a fact that Leon was about as straight as a circus ring, no matter how many girls tried to change his mind. He'd never been much interested in girls anyway.

Or anyone at all, for that matter. Cloud, Yuffie, and Aerith had started to think he was against sex completely until he and Cloud had spontaneously jumped each other that wonderful day so many years ago.

"I should be, but I worry about you," Yuffie answered, reaching up and fluffing down a blond spike. "A big boy like you needs a little love in his life."

"Whatever, Yuffie." Cloud rolled his eyes and walked into the cafeteria, leaving Yuffie by herself out in the hall.

Cloud got himself a simple, healthy meal – two sloppy joes and a pepsi. Well, okay, it wasn't healthy by most people's standards, but considering Cloud wasn't the best cook in the world and he had to eat his own cooking (except in the rare cases when Aerith had time to come over and cook for him), this was the healthiest he'd gotten in awhile.

Having retrieved his lunch, he began to head back to his classroom to finish eating it. If he was lucky, Yuffie and had already left and he could finish out the rest of his day in peace.

* * *

"—And her hair was brown and in these two braided pigtails and she was wearing this beautiful outfit that just looked so good on her and she's absolutely breath-taking, if you could just see her, you'd never look at another boy again," Tidus babbled, his lunch completely forgotten as he stared out into space. "She's _perfect_ and such a tease and—"

"Would you SHUT UP already? Nobody cares about your love life, or lack thereof!" Sora snapped, stabbing his blueberry muffin with his fork. "You've been babbling about this girl all day! Do you even know her name?"

"Of course I do," Tidus said defensively. "It's Selphie."

Sora's eyes widened slightly. He knew a Selphie. The Tilmett family was very rich and very prominent, though not as rich and prominent as the Haradas, of course. And, according to the gossip, Mr. Tilmett hadn't allowed his only child, Selphie, to date since her mother was murdered.

Sora snorted. "Good luck with Selphie. You'll need it."

Tidus narrowed his eyes slightly, but before he could say anything, Riku interrupted. "What about you, Sora? Much of a love life?"

Sora bit off a piece of his muffin. "Um, not really. I mean, my sister's set me up with a few of her friends, but those relationships never really lasted long. They thought I was weird."

"I wonder why," Tidus muttered.

Riku ignored him. "How come?"

"I don't know. Probably because I didn't really seem to be interested." Sora shrugged. "Like, I'd always think watching TV was worth missing a date for or something."

Tidus snorted. "And you're complaining about _my_ love life?"

"What love life?" Sora shot back, pulling the fork out of his muffin and taking a bite of the blueberry goodness. "You don't have one, last time I checked. At least _I've_ actually gone out with some girls!"

"Yeah. And they dumped you because you'd rather _watch TV_," Tidus said snidely. "How very mature and considerate of you, Sora."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Could you two get through one meal without going at each other? It's getting annoying."

Sora and Tidus glared at him, then went right back to arguing.

Riku sighed and stood, an action which went unnoticed by his two companions. He walked over to the garbage bin and dumped his lunch inside, putting his tray with the other empty ones to be washed while mentally counting to ten.

They were still arguing when he glanced back at the table. Instead of returning to play referee, Riku just left. He could just spend the rest of his lunch period in the art room. He, quite obviously, wouldn't miss a thing.

* * *

"—hiding from you in his classroom. It's so sad."

Leon tuned in to Yuffie's speech just in time to hear that small portion. He raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement. "You don't say."

"Nnergh," Yuffie huffed, her hands on her hips. "You weren't listening to a single word I said, were you?"

"…No…"

"I _said_ that Cloud is hiding from you in his classroom. What do you plan to do with this information?"

Leon furrowed his eyebrows. Who said he had to _do_ anything? "Um… ignore it and hope it goes away?"

Yuffie made an exasperated noise. "Why must I always have to work out your problems for you? Would it kill you to take care of things yourself?"

"I never _ask_ you to—"

"I mean, geez, you're a mature old man, aren't you? Is it _that_ hard to walk to Cloud's classroom, take him in your arms, and say, 'Cloud, I'm sorry I was such a jackass to you in high school. I've regretted it every day since then. Please, let me screw you senseless and make up for lost years of post-coital bliss'?"

Leon's left eyebrow twitched.

Yuffie backed off. "You're still meeting me at the café today, right?"

"You'll hunt me down if I don't," Leon replied, knowing full well that it was true. And that it had happened before. There were advantages and disadvantages to Yuffie knowing where he hid his spare key. He'd stood her up for a meeting at lunch once and he'd awoken at midnight to find her standing over him in bed, holding a broom, which she proceeded to beat him with.

It had been a very traumatizing experience.

"And don't you forget it!" Yuffie said proudly. "I can't wait. This is going to be so fun…"

Leon raised an eyebrow. "What is?"

"Oh," Yuffie blinked innocently. "Er, nothing?"

Leon eyed her dubiously, but Yuffie was already busying herself with the plate of cookies in the center of the table and didn't even spare a glance in his direction.

* * *

Sometime after calling Tidus a mop-headed girl-ogler and getting kicked under the table for it, Sora seemed to realize that his least favorite pacifist was missing.

He blinked and paused mid-insult. "Where's Riku?"

Tidus blinked as well, looking around the cafeteria for any sign of the distinctive snow-white hair. However, Riku was nowhere to be seen.

"Eh… he probably went to the art room. That's where he usually goes when he's fed up," Tidus said with a shrug. His eyes narrowed. "And I am not a pot-bellied cow-raper, by the way."

Sora rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Shouldn't one of us go after him? Like, namely, you?"

"What for? He'd just bite my head off. If you want him so bad, why don't you go after him?"

Sora frowned indignantly. He most certainly did not want Riku. Just because he was curious about Riku's whereabouts didn't mean he actually had any intention of making amends with him. If anything, Riku being angry with him was a blessing. Maybe now Riku would finally leave him alone.

Sora sighed. Damn his conscience.

"Where's the art room?" he asked reluctantly.

Tidus blinked. "Uh… second floor, at the end of the hall. It's right next door to the dance classroom."

Nodding his head, Sora trashed the rest of his lunch and headed out of the cafeteria, trekking up the stairs and locating the art room, exactly where Tidus had said it would be.

The door was open just a crack. Sora poked his head through.

Riku was sitting by the window, at one of the long tables. In front of him on the desk was his sketchbook and Riku's hand was moving over it rapidly. He appeared to be drawing his frustrations.

Sora slid into the room, tapping his fist against the door to alert Riku to his presence. Riku didn't even look up.

"What do you want?" he asked, his eyes focused on whatever it was he was drawing.

Sora walked over to the table, taking a seat directly across from the older boy. Riku's arm was blocking the drawing, so Sora couldn't see a thing. It was just as well, he supposed. The drawing was probably private.

"Uh… well… you seemed mad, so I came to, uh, apologize…" Sora said awkwardly. He wasn't used to apologizing to people. Usually, they were apologizing to him or were making snide remarks. "Um, sorry."

Riku's hand paused, but he still didn't look up. "What makes you think I'm mad?"

"Tidus said you always come up here when you get fed up."

"Tidus likes to run his mouth off." Finally, Riku's green-blue eyes lifted to meet Sora's gaze. He put his sketchbook in his bag and rested his head on his hand. "So, you came all the way up here to apologize to me? I thought you didn't like me."

Sora frowned. "I don't."

"Then why apologize?"

"Because I possess this thing you might have heard of. It's called a 'conscience'. Annoying, but necessary."

Riku chuckled. "You're weird, you know that?"

"Whatever," Sora replied. He hopped out of his seat and began exploring the room, fiddling with the paintbrushes, turning the pipes on and off repeatedly. He glanced over his shoulder to find that Riku was still staring at him and waved a hand. "Go on. Draw whatever it is you were drawing. I won't bother you."

Riku paused for a moment, staring at Sora for awhile longer. Then he pulled out his sketchpad again. "Okay."

The two boys fell into a comfortable silence, occasionally broken by a particularly hard stroke across the paper or Sora dropping an art supply. And, though Sora would never admit it, maybe he was getting a little used to Riku's company. Maybe he was even starting to like it a little.

But only a little.

* * *

Cloud was at the café by three fifty-five. He didn't want Yuffie to yell at him for being late as well as a bad friend.

If there was one thing he hadn't missed about the short brunette, it was her guilt-inducing habits. She knew just how to bully him into anything using her special brand of persuasion. It was incredibly annoying.

Still, she was a valued friend and even useful from time to time. Cloud didn't mind hanging out with her, in small doses and with plenty of aspirin in-between.

At exactly four o'clock, Yuffie bounced into the café and slid into the seat across from Cloud. She smiled at him. "Hey, Cloudster. So, how have you been? Tell everything and leave nothing out!"

Cloud rolled his eyes slightly, but smiled. "Fine. Graduated college with my degree in teaching and this is my first job. I've got an apartment a couple miles away from here, too. I didn't know you guys still lived in the area."

"Unlike you and Aerith, Leon and I didn't leave to go to college," Yuffie said, taking note of how Cloud winced slightly at the name. "Didn't think you'd ever come back, though."

"Yeah, well, I did. Come back," Cloud mumbled. "Aerith lives not far from here. She's got a nice house of her own and everything. I think she's on the prowl for a husband."

"So's Leon," Yuffie commented casually, ignoring the look Cloud gave her. "I think it's about time he settled down with the right blonde—I mean, boy."

Cloud's glare intensified. "Shut up, Yuffie."

"I didn't say anything."

A waitress stepped up to take their orders. Yuffie ordered a mocha latte while Cloud went with a simple cup of coffee and a scone. After giving her order, Yuffie immediately returned her attention to the uncomfortable blonde before her.

"Don't you ever think about him?" She asked. "Leon, I mean. And, you know, being with him again."

Cloud didn't answer.

"I'm sure you've missed him. I mean, he's missed you. A lot. He thinks about you nonstop. I think he's even starting to believe that maybe Aerith came on to you, instead of the other way around."

"If he'd just believed it when I told it to him, we wouldn't be here right now, would we?" Cloud said snidely. He sighed and drank half his coffee in one gulp the instant the waitress set it down. It burned going down, but it was worth it.

Yuffie sipped her mocha. "You two are too proud for your own good."

Cloud ignored her statement and stared placidly out the window, trying to keep his mind off Leon. It was hard normally, but it was twice as hard with Yuffie sitting across from him, reminding him about it every five seconds.

The blonde noticed a familiar head of brown hair standing by the doorway and looking around speculative. He dropped his coffee and sank down in his seat, hissing, "Yuffie, you didn't—!"

"Didn't what?" Yuffie asked in confusion, looking in the direction Cloud was staring in. She smirked. "Oh, yes I did. HEY LEON! OVER HERE!"

Cloud sank down further in his seat until he was practically under the table and no part of him was visible, excluding his hair. He groaned and listened to the conversation going on above him.

"Okay, Queen of Blackmail, why'd you want me to meet you here?"

"Oh, you know. So we could catch up on old times. And so you could meet my friend here."

"…I think the table ate them."

Cloud winced as Yuffie's foot connected with his shin. "Come on, sit up so Leon can see you."

Reluctantly, Cloud did just that, staring at the table forlornly and ignoring the gasp that issued from the stunned brunette standing beside him.

Yuffie smiled sweetly. "Leon, meet Cloud. Cloud, I'm sure you know Leon."

Cloud hazarded a glance upwards. Leon was glaring daggers in Yuffie's direction.

"Yuffie, I'm going to force feed you your whistle for this," he hissed, scowling. "And I'm leaving."

"Pictures," Yuffie said casually. Leon's scowl deepened and he slid into a seat next to Yuffie, who grinned and folded her hands. "Now, say hi to your ex-boyfriend of four years."

"Hi," Leon muttered.

Cloud blew his hair out of his face and didn't look up from the table. What a beautifully intricate design. What fine woodwork. He would really have to write a letter congratulating whoever had created this table.

Yuffie kicked him again. "Cloud, say hi to the man who accused you of sleeping around."

Two pairs of eyes gave Yuffie glares of death.

"What?" she asked with a shrug. "It's true."

The table descended into a tense silence. Yuffie sighed. "I'm going to the bathroom. Try not to kill each other and the first one to leave gets my sweaty gym sneaker crammed up his ass."

Cloud watched her go, then began toying with a salt packet. He frowned. You'd never think he was twenty-seven what with the way he was acting. Leon was no great enemy. If anything, Leon was just some fly on his shoulder.

Yeah. He had nothing to be afraid of. He could say something if he wanted to.

"…Want a salt packet?" he forced out after a few long minutes of courage-building. Leon shook his head and glared out the window.

Cloud sighed. _I hope Yuffie comes back soon._

* * *

They ended up cutting class. While it wasn't Sora's first time cutting, being that he was well-known for hiding in the boys' locker room during gym class, it was his first time cutting at his new school. Especially with someone he was supposed to hate.

Even after the bell signaling the end of lunch had rung, neither boy was willing to break the companionable silence they'd fallen into, least of all to go to class. So they ended up skipping the rest of the day's classes, only moving when they heard the kids in the hallway talking about what they were going to do now that school was over.

Sora was the first to speak since Riku was far too absorbed in his latest drawing to notice anything. "I think it's time to go home."

At first Riku didn't respond. Sora was about to repeat the statement when, slowly, Riku blinked, transferring his gaze from his sketchpad to the brunette.

"Home?" Riku echoed blankly before reality seemed to catch up with him and he smiled. "Oh. Right. Want me to walk you home again?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "I didn't want you to walk me home before."

"So, that's a no?"

Sora walked over to the older boy and peered over his shoulder, but Riku quickly stuffed the sketchpad into his bad and gave Sora a triumphant look.

The brunette rolled his eyes again. "Whatever. I didn't want to see your stupid drawing anyway."

"Uh huh," Riku responded, standing and pulling his bag onto his back. "I wonder if Tidus has left yet…"

Frankly, Sora couldn't have cared less if Tidus was currently being run over by a circus elephant, but he didn't say that out loud. Instead he made a noncommittal noise and stood by the door while Riku got his things together.

As soon as they stepped out into the hallway, they spotted the blond in question heading towards them. Riku smiled again. "Hey, Tidus, gonna walk home with us?"

"…I'd love to, really," Tidus said, eyeing Sora disdainfully. "But I'm taking the long way home. There's, uh, someone I've got to see."

"The untouchable Selphie?" Sora quipped.

Tidus glared at him. "Yes. Her."

"Like I said before, _good luck_ with that."

Riku sighed and shook his head, speaking before the two could launch into a full-fledged argument. "Okay. I'll catch you tomorrow then. I'm walking Sora home again."

"What? Can't he find the way himself?" Tidus asked snidely.

"You can't _seriously_ think I _asked_ him to walk me home. Do I _look_ stupid to you?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"BYE TIDUS!" Riku interrupted loudly, putting a hand on Sora's shoulder and steering him towards the stairs. Sora shot one last glare over his shoulder before letting Riku drag him down the stairs and to the front entrance of the school.

"I hate him," Sora grumbled.

"The feeling's mutual, I'm sure," Riku answered as he began the walk. "I don't see what you two have against each other anyway. Maybe if you tried to be nicer…"

Sora glared. "You seem to be forgetting the fact that I hate you, _both_ of you, and all you stand for."

"And what do we stand for?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow.

_Evil poor people who want me to let down my guard so you can… gangbang me or something!_ Sora thought. "Stuff. Stuff that I hate. Yeah."

Riku's eyebrow stayed up.

Sora blushed. "Oh, be quiet."

Riku smiled innocently and did what he was told. He listened as Sora muttered a variety of words under his breath and glanced over every so often to watch the brunette's cheeks turn a variety of different colors.

And then they were finally in front of Sora's house, upon which they spotted none other than the Crazy Cat Lady sitting on the front porch, feeding five of her sixty-seven cats.

Sora ran up to her beaming. "I'm home, Grandma!"

Mrs. Yamazaki eyed Riku over Sora's shoulder. "I can see that. Who's this? You look like that quiet boy who always stands in front of my house with the loud blond."

"That's probably because I _am_ that quiet boy who always stands in front of your house with the loud blond. Ma'am," Riku added as an afterthought.

"Oh. Well. I'm Mrs. Yamazaki, Sora's grandmother. And you are…?"

"I'm Riku Masaki. Sora's… er… something…?" Riku gave Sora a plainly lost look, but Sora had busied himself with petting Fluffy the 8th and was blatantly ignoring him. "His… schoolmate," Riku decided at last.

Mrs. Yamazaki's eyes ran between the two quickly. "I see. Schoolmate. Yes. Would you like to stay for dinner? We're having fish."

The cats meowed in approval. Riku hesitated.

"They've already eaten, I swear," Mrs. Yamazaki continued with a roll of her eyes.

Riku smiled nervously. "Oh. Then, uh, sure. I'll stay for dinner."

* * *

She was dancing again, as graceful as a swan. Up on one toe, spinning around so fast he could barely keep track, then suddenly leaping through the air and straight into another spin, a dip, and pose.

It was beautiful. Almost as beautiful as the person doing it.

Tidus vaguely wondered if he would get in trouble for leaning against the glass like he was, then decided that it would be worth it as long as he could watch her dance.

The dance instructor, a woman with really big hair, called for a break. Selphie traveled over to her bag and pulled out a water bottle, taking a sip, then spraying her face with it. That being done, she looked up and saw him.

The smile that erupted on her face made him smile in return.

Selphie put down her water bottle and sauntered over to the door, pushing it open just slightly enough to put her head through. "Hey. Tidus—right?"

"Yeah…" Tidus answered nervously, trying not to do something stupid. Like trip. Or like stutter. Or like—

"Want to come inside?"

Turn around and run away.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't talk to her. Because, maybe Sora was right and she was untouchable. And if she was, he definitely didn't deserve to be the one to touch her. Selphie was something ethereal. Maybe it was better if she stayed that way.

That and he had… had… to watch his brothers and sisters! Yes. He had a long, long day of babysitting to get through because his mother was going to be working at the convenience store all day and—and then she was going out for a drink with her friends and…

Babysitting. Yes. Nice, safe babysitting.

And maybe later, when Riku was finished following Sora like the obsessive stalker that he was, Tidus could invite him over and they could rally another war.

Right.

Anything to keep his mind off the fact that he'd just _run away_ from what was sure to be the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his entire life.

* * *

Yuffie returned at least a half-hour later. By that time, Cloud was watching the waitress make coffee behind the counter while Leon counted the number of leaves on the bush he could see through the window.

Neither man had said a single word to one another after Cloud had stopped playing with the salt packets.

Yuffie stopped before the table, looking frustrated. "YOU TWO ARE SO IRRITATING!" She shouted loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear.

And the entire restaurant did. Many of the patrons were now pretending to be absorbed in their coffee, while really hanging on Yuffie's every word.

Cloud looked at her blankly. "Oh, you're back. I was starting to think maybe you were dead."

"Hit your head on the toilet seat?" Leon added, raising an eyebrow.

"Got a concussion?"

"Passed out on the bathroom floor waiting for one of us to come help you?"

"Except we couldn't because you told us not to leave the table."

"For any reason whatsoever."

The two seemed to realize they were working together and immediately fell quiet.

Yuffie sighed, aggravated. "That! That, you see? What you two just did! Why can't you do that anymore? It's not wrong, you know! I mean, in high school, you two were, like, the greatest couple! Why not now?"

Cloud looked at Leon.

Leon looked at Cloud.

Cloud spoke first, looking at Yuffie. "Can I go home now?"

The little pepper shaker inexplicably flew across the room and shattered against a nearby wall. Yuffie's death glare was its only eulogy.

"_Fine_. Go home! See if I care! You're both bastards and I hate you!"

Leon and Cloud blinked simultaneously.

Yuffie suddenly found it very, very hard to remain angry. Her anger dissipated with a sigh. "I'll see you tomorrow. Sorry about… today."

Cloud stood. "It's alright. I remember how crazy you are." He finished his coffee at last and began trekking towards the door, not even bothering to glance back at either of the two brunettes.

Leon watched him go for a moment, then held out his hand. "Pictures. _Now,_" he demanded in a threatening tone.

"Bite me," Yuffie responded, running out of the café and leaving Leon with the bill.

* * *

There was a cat chewing on Riku's left pant leg. The sight brought Sora a small sense of satisfaction.

Of course, this satisfaction was fleeting as Riku was still in _his_ house (_no_, he reminded himself furiously, _not _his_ house_), eating _his_ food and chatting with _his_ grandmother like they'd been friends for years.

Just thinking about it was driving Sora absolutely mad. He didn't want Riku anywhere near him. He didn't want to think of Riku as anything else but that annoying, stupid, quiet, stupid, stupid, _stupid_ boy who happened to like to draw and happened to smile a lot, even when Sora was being a total jerk, and… and…

_Dammit_.

Unable to deny that maybe some small, tiny, insignificant part of hit possibly didn't mind Riku's company as much as it should, Sora simply let himself be content with glaring at Riku as though hoping to melt his brain into a little ball of fuzz by looks alone.

Grandma Yamazaki pointed towards the stove. "There's plenty more food if you're hungry, Riku."

"No thank you, ma'am. I had a big lunch," Riku answered politely.

Sora's eyes narrowed. _Liar_. He had _not_ had a big lunch. He'd barely even touched his lunch before tossing it in the garbage. And, now that he thought about it, Riku had not taken out his bagel after wrapping it up. At least, not in the two classes they had together in the morning before going their separate ways for another two classes and meeting up for lunch. Which meant that Riku had possibly not eaten his bagel, which meant—

And Sora gave a shit… _why_?

"You're going to starve and _die,_" Sora muttered, unintentionally loud enough for all to hear. Grandma Yamazaki smiled a familiar smile that he usually saw on his mother's face. The one he usually associated with conspiracies having to do with his love life.

Riku paused, half-way out of his seat. "Sora. I had no idea you cared. At all."

Sora seized Riku's backpack and rummaged through it (reluctantly keeping his hands away from the sketchpad full of mysterious artwork), until, _yes_, his fingers wrapped around a familiar package and he pulled it out, waving it in the air.

"What is _this_?" he demanded accusingly.

Riku averted his eyes, looking decidedly guilty. "Eh… a bagel?"

"_Whose_ bagel?"

"…My bagel?"

"The one you _didn't_ eat for breakfast?"

"…possibly…"

"And what'd you have for lunch?"

"…uh…"

"_Nothing_." Sora pointed to the uneaten fish on Riku's plate. "What're you going to do with that?"

"…wrap it up and save it for later?"

The brunette sank back down in his seat and scowled. "You're going to starve and _die_."

Grandma Yamazaki clasped her hands together. "Ah… well… shall I wrap that up for you before the cats eat it?"

"Um, yes ma'am," Riku said sheepishly, casting furtive glances at a sulking Sora every so often. "…thanks for dinner, even though I didn't eat very much."

Grandma Yamazaki handed Riku a bag with the container holding his fish inside. "Oh, it's quite alright. We don't get many visitors."

"We don't have _room_ for many visitors," Sora pointed out dully, looking anywhere but at Riku. "And they're unwelcome anyway. And so are you. Unwelcome."

"…um…"

"Sora," Grandma Yamazaki said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I understand there's some _unresolved sexual tension_ between you and Riku, here, but there's no need to be rude."

Sora choked on his own spit.

Riku raised an eyebrow and coughed.

Grandma Yamazaki smiled serenely. "What? Am I wrong?"

"You—I—he—sexual—nnergh—"

"So, I'm right?"

"Grandma—"

"You're not straight, are you, Riku?" Grandma Yamazaki continued, turning to the older teen.

Riku looked extremely calm compared to Sora, who was, in fact, having an aneurysm. "Not really, no. Ma'am."

"And neither is Sora. I presume. Are you, Sora?"

"—nnnnnnnergh—"

Grandma Yamazaki seemed to realize that her only grandson was on his deathbed. She blinked, confusion on her face. "Was it something I said?"

Riku chuckled lightly, sliding his bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you at school, Sora. When you're more… alive."

And then he was gone and the kitchen was silent except for Sora's indignant sputters and the purring of the cats.

"He seems like a nice boy. And you do seem to compliment each other very well. He's like the subtle yin to your slightly psychotic yang. Don't you agree?"

Sora exploded. "GRANDMA, WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING! SEXUAL TENSION! THERE IS _NO_—"

"Hark. I think Oprah is on."

And then she was gone, too.

Sora glared at the cat currently picking at his dinner. Sexual tension? Yeah, _right_.

* * *

"You _ran_ away? And you call _me_ a baby for needing a night light?" Jou, Tidus' six-year-old brother inquired. He was giving Tidus a look of absolute disdain. "That's sad."

Tidus flushed, ignoring Jou in favor of dumping the hot water into the little container of Ramen. "Shut up."

"Although, I can understand why you ran away. She's a girl. They have…" Jou wrinkled his nose. "Cooties."

"Mhmm."

"Don't you know what'll happen if a girl gives you cooties?" Joe leaned forward, speaking in a conspiratorial voice. "You'll be unable to copulate because your… _you know_, will fall off. And then some old hobo will eat it for dinner, mistaking it for a chicken wing."

Tidus frowned. "Ew. Jou, that's disgusting."

"Yet true. So, by running away, you saved yourself. I don't blame you in the slightest, big bro." Jou clapped Tidus on the elbow, which was as far as he could reach, then flounced off to the living room to join the rest of their siblings in a cartoon marathon.

Tidus made a face. What in the hell were they teaching kids these days? When he was six, he didn't have a clue what 'copulate' meant.

He paused. He _still_ didn't know what copulate meant. Ah, well, he could just look it up in the dictionary later. Or ask Rin. The girl was a walking dictionary at the humble age of ten.

"Where's Riku? He hasn't been around in a while," Fuka said, peeking her head in the doorway. Her cheeks were pink. "I miss him."

"Sure that's not because you have a crush on him?" Tidus asked as he waited for the ramen to be ready.

Fuka's cheeks turned even redder. "No! I _don't_—"

"He's found a new friend to hang out with," Tidus told her, poking at the noodles in the cup with a fork. Nope, not ready yet. "And I don't like his new friend, so Riku doesn't come over anymore."

Fuka furrowed her eyebrows. "Jou said Riku doesn't come over anymore because you're obsessed with some girl and Riku's afraid to catch cooties from you catching cooties from her."

Tidus rolled his eyes. "Tell Jou that makes no sense."

"Yeah, well, you're fat!" called an impudent voice from the living room.

"Yeah, and all six of your sisters are girls and have cooties!" Tidus called back immaturely.

There was a terrified scream and a small crash before he heard the distant sounds of Jou's feet running hurriedly up the stairs and a door slam. He could also vaguely hear a shower running.

Tidus grinned in satisfaction and picked up his finished cup of ramen.

* * *

It was almost midnight when Sora finally reached his mansion and closed the front door beside him. He was tired, he had a headache, and he was sure he was going to have some incredibly disturbing nightmares.

His mother was sitting on the couch, watching a rerun of _The Golden Girls_. Sora eyed her wearily. He still hadn't told her that he'd run into his grandmother in the slums. He didn't even know what his father had told her about the whereabouts of her own mother.

He also didn't want to think about it because, well, _headache_.

"'m home." Sora murmured loud enough for her to hear.

Seiya sat up straighter on the couch and turned to face him, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "And just where have you been?"

"Out. With friends. We blew up a gas station, smoked some pot, and spent three hours watching our hands move."

"You're funny. Ha ha," Seiya deadpanned. "Now, where were you really?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, Mom. I really was with a friend from school, though. His name's Riku and he won't leave me alone and people are starting to talk and I really, really need some Tylenol," Sora answered, his voice fading into a whine at the end.

Seiya muttered something under her breath and got up, pulling him into a hug. "Next time, you call if you're going to be out past nine, okay? Your father was afraid you'd been murdered. He made me watch the news for any word of a rich kid pegged down in his prime."

Sora peered at the television. "That doesn't look like the news."

"Your father's asleep," Seiya said sweetly, putting a finger to her lips. "And this moment never happened."

"Duly noted. I'm going to bed." Sora pulled out of his mother's embrace and trekked up two flights of stairs to his bedroom. He was much too exhausted – both by his day and the long walk – to do much more than kick off his shoes and collapse on the bed.

Yawning, he clapped his hands and closed his eyes as the lights went out. Sure, he was still dressed in these dirty, smelly clothes, but he could always just take a bath as soon as he woke up.

Besides, he was afraid if he took the time to take a bath now, he'd start thinking, and if he started thinking, eventually, his mind would bring him back to Grandma Yamazaki's words.

Heaven forbid he actually begin to believe there was sexual tension between him and that white-haired devil.

Sora crawled under the blankets and pulled them up over his head with a small groan. This was brain-washing, that's what it was. What, did he just have to hear something once to believe it? Just because someone said something didn't make it true.

Of course, if he began subscribing to that logic, then he'd have no reason to hate Riku (and Tidus and the rest of those people) in the first place.

His headache got worse.

Sora clamped his eyes shut before his brain imploded and tried to get some sleep. He'd deal with all of that later. Just. Not. Now.

* * *

**Next Update:** Part 004: Crash Into You 


	4. Crash Into You

**Title:** Separate Lives

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Fiction Rating T:** 13+ Unverified. Contains content not suitable for children. Suitable for teens, 13 and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts and I never will. I don't own Kingdom Hearts and I never will. I don't own Kingdom Hearts and I never will. That sound you hear is the sound of my HEART BREAKING. I don't own Kingdom Hearts and I never will.

**Author's Note:** For those of you who don't know, I'm baaack! Yes, that's right! Slashy, in the flesh and the geeky pajamas! Updating all my old stories! Living in the realm of Kingdom Hearts fanfiction! It is too, too fun to be back. Let's see. I have a new LJ, the link to which is in my profile and, uh, my butt's asleep. And there's a lot of cursing in this chapter. That's about it.

Oh, no, wait. I also have to pee. Does that count? Eheh, I bet none of you ever wanted to know that. Yeah, I'll just stop now…

**Thanks To:** Everyone who has reviewed in the past year! Thanks so very much for sticking with me!

**Date Begun:** August 24, 2006

**Date Posted: **October 2, 2006

**004. Crash Into You**  
"Where's Riku?" Sora asked immediately the next morning when Tidus failed to appear with the older boy in tow. The blond snorted, raising one shoulder in a shrug.

"You'd know better than me these days," He said snidely. "Anyway, I'm sure he'll be along soon. Or just meet us at school. Whatever. You can have his bagel."

Sora caught the bagel Tidus chucked at his head and stuck his tongue out, opening the foil and taking a bite. He stared pensively down the street. Riku had never done this before. Okay, sure, Sora had only known him for three days and, for all he knew, Riku was never on time for the bus, but still. This was usually the time they had all their nice talks.

Like when Riku said something nice and Sora said something sarcastic and Riku laughed and Sora cursed Riku's existence. Sora treasured those talks. How dare Riku just take that away.

And leave him alone with Tidus. Tidus! Riku knew Sora hated Tidus. Tidus was an asshole. What made him think that he wanted to spend ten minutes standing on the sidewalk with Tidus? He'd rather have his spleen removed by a drunken hobo with a series of toothpicks and no painkillers. Presumably, Tidus felt the same way.

So where was Riku?

"Does he… is he ever… um…" Sora cleared his throat to halt the stammering, feeling like a total idiot for thinking so much about that stupid boy. "Is Riku ever late like this?"

Tidus raised an eyebrow curiously for a moment. Then, suddenly, he grinned. "You _like_ him, don't you?"

"_No_," Sora denied immediately, going a bit pink. "This is just the first time since I've met you idiots that he's ever been late for the bus and he left my house kind of quickly yesterday and I was just making sure he's not avoiding me or something. I mean, I'm supposed to avoid him, not the other way around. If he's avoiding me while I'm avoiding him, then that just takes attention away from me avoiding him, doesn't it? Is it me or is the bus taking _really_ long to come?"

Tidus stared at him blankly. "What the hell are you even _talking_ about?"

"Nothing!"

"Yeah, whatever," Tidus turned his attention back to the street, taking a large bite of his bagel and not swallowing before continuing to speak. "Riku told me all about you and your little speech about his eating habits."

Sora swallowed. "Uh… h-he did?"

"Yep. We were expressing our mutual amusement that you watched him closely enough to accuse him of anorexia. It's cute," Tidus gave Sora an impish grin. "He totally likes you, too, you know. You should go for it."

"I'm not going for anything! Because, first of all, I'm not gay and, second of all, I don't like your stupid—oh, hey, look, the bus."

As soon as the bus pulled up in front of them, Sora raced on, taking a seat in the back by the window and hoping that he would get lucky and Tidus would sit somewhere else.

Which, naturally, meant that Tidus slid into the seat beside him and spent the entire ride talking to a kid Sora didn't recognize about blitzball. Sora had never had the greatest luck.

* * *

"Hey," Riku said as Sora slid into his seat in front of him. The brunet immediately whirled around in his seat, his eyes narrowed. Riku blinked. "I see you're in a great mood as always."

"Where were you this morning?" Sora hissed, his eyes narrowing even further. "You left me alone with Tidus. Tidus! How could you?"

Riku raised an eyebrow, looking far too amused for someone who was supposed to be deeply ashamed of his actions. "I had to help my Dad with something. If I didn't know better, I'd think you missed me."

"Don't be stupid." Sora turned back around, in full sulk mode. Unless Riku had been in the hospital after having a limb viciously ripped off, then there was no excuse for leaving him alone with Tidus. And Riku hadn't even apologized. It was like he didn't care about Sora at all!

Not that Sora wanted him to or anything. It was the principal of the thing. Riku couldn't just go around blowing hot and cold. Either he wanted to be Sora's friend or he didn't, and, if it was the former, he was doing a horrible job.

Sora stiffened as Riku leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "I'm sorry."

"Okay," Sora breathed, melting before he realized what he was doing and stiffened again. "Whatever. Just don't do it again."

"Alright." Riku was once again far too amused for someone who was supposed to be wallowing in guilt and regret.

What could he possibly have been helping his father with that was more important than helping Sora _not_ strangle his so-called best friend? Riku wasn't exactly friend material if he avoided keeping his friends alive. He and Tidus could have gotten into a scuffle, during which Tidus could have pulled out one of those glass bottle blades or what have you and stabbed Sora with it. It would have served Riku right, leaving them alone like that!

Sora's thoughts were getting a bit too crazy, even for him, and thus he rested his head against his desk and groaned. It was the poor atmosphere, for sure. It was driving him _crazy_. He needed to be amongst his peers, talking about money and polo and girls and booze. Nevermind that most of his peers had never liked him because he was, according to them, 'odd' due to the fact that he didn't find watching some girl's bouncing chest to be incredibly fascinating. He'd rather be trying to fit in with them than trying to fit in with _these people_.

A pen jabbed him in the back, a sure sign that Riku wanted his attention, but Sora was too preoccupied with feeling sorry for himself. He closed his eyes and groaned again, ignoring the vicious prod that followed a few moments later.

Finally, Riku seemed to have just given up on the jabbing and leaned forward again. "I got you something."

Sora perked up immediately. "Really?"

"Uh huh," Riku whispered, sounding oddly pleased. "I'll give it to you at lunch. I think you'll—"

"Mr. Masaki," Mr. Obana said with a hint of a smile. "I'm sure that the notes to accompany today's lesson _can't_ be found on Mr. Harada's ear, so if you would please look up at the board and continue that particular venture after class?"

Sora didn't think it was possible for his face to be so red.

"Yes, sir." He and Riku said in unison, falling quiet for the rest of the class.

* * *

It wasn't until Leon realized that he'd graded his last seven essay papers with Es that he gave up on trying to act normal. He had the class doing some random worksheets because he was afraid that if he attempted to put notes on the board, he'd end up writing Cloud's name or something equally embarrassing. And these kids were hungry for any bit of gossip they could get their hands on. The rumors about him and Yuffie _still_ hadn't died down.

Then again, it wasn't like they ever did anything to prove or disprove them. Yuffie only got close to him in the teachers' lounge and Leon had an award-winning poker face and a glare that scared any overcurious gossip into running away and simultaneously crapping themselves.

He couldn't imagine what they'd start saying when they realized that he and Cloud used to be closer than professional relationships allowed. A _lot_ closer.

But he really shouldn't have been thinking about those kinds of things with nothing but a desk separating him from his students and an entire twenty minutes of class left to go.

He raised his gaze from the desk in front of him to the door as the door opened and had to struggle to keep his face blank as none other than Cloud walked in, looking first nonchalant, then surprised, then resigned.

Leon blinked slowly. "Can I help you…" He paused before continuing. "Cloud?"

"I, um," Cloud cleared his throat. "We ran out of chalk in my classroom, so can I…?"

"Yeah, sure." Leon took a box out of his top drawer and held it out, seeing no compelling reason to get up and walk it over to Cloud. The blond's eyes narrowed slightly as he waited then, rolling his eyes, he crossed the classroom.

Leon's eyes never left him the entire way. He took in Cloud's expressive blue eyes, his spiky blond hair—which, he noticed, had gotten much shorter and less wild—and… was that a piercing in his left ear? Two piercings? When had he gotten _those_?

Cloud took the box of chalk from him and raised an eyebrow. "Thank you, Squall."

Ignoring the murmuring coming from his students, Leon immediately corrected him. "It's actually Leon now."

"I thought that was just Yuffie's random nickname for you."

"Well, it's not."

"I see," the other eyebrow joined the first. "Thank you. _Leon_."

"You're welcome."

They stared at each other for another minute before Cloud turned and walked out of the classroom. Leon looked back at the students, all of whom were staring at him with matching smug expressions.

"Mr. Leonhart," said one in an unbearably innocent way. "Are you and Mr. Strife—?"

"There is a 50,000 word essay waiting for you at the end of that sentence." Leon replied coldly.

The student wisely didn't finish.

* * *

Cloud stared at the box of chalk in his hands, exhaling slowly. His class was probably wondering if Sir Francis Drake had kidnapped him and sold him into a life of slavery on the high seas, but Cloud had all but forgotten about them. The box was still slightly warm from being held in Squall's—that is to say, _Leon_'_s_—hand and it really shouldn't be affecting him the way it was.

_Leon_ really shouldn't be affecting him the way he was.

Of course, it would be much easier to maintain an indifferent nature if he wasn't still in love with the guy. He'd really thought he'd gotten over it. It wasn't as though he hadn't dated other guys while he was at college. He'd gone through his usual 'how-could-he' stage where he sulked and played sad, soulful breakup songs superimposed against angry, spurned female tracks. This had been followed by the 'get-out-and-move-on' stage in which he went out in slut clothes and picked up a new guy every night, only avoiding alcohol poisoning and STDs by sheer force of will and an obsession with properly applied condoms. The actual getting out and moving on had come a year or so after that.

But the moment he'd seen Leon again, it had all come rushing back. The love. The lust. The heartache.

"Shit," he said quietly, tossing the box into the air and then catching it again before finally heading back into his classroom. Hell if he was going to let Leon keep him from doing his job. He wasn't some lovesick puppy dog waiting for his lover to take him back.

If anything, _he_ was the one who should get to do the taking back. _He_ wasn't the one who'd accused _his_ boyfriend of being a slut. He'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person. _And_ he'd apologized. _Twelve times_. What more did Leon want?

_Obviously not me,_ Cloud thought with an air of bitterness, _since he broke up with me so easily._

The bell rang, snapping Cloud out of his thoughts and causing him to release a few very colorful curses just as his class opened the door and stopped when they saw their teacher glaring daggers at the ceiling.

"Mr. Strife…?" A girl said hesitantly. "Are you okay? And also, do we have any homework?"

"I'm fine," Cloud muttered in irritation. "Read the chapter or something." He whirled around and stormed in the direction of the teacher's lounge, wishing he'd never even _heard_ the name Squall "It's Actually Leon" Leonhart. Didn't he realize that _Leon Leonhart_ was every bit as stupid a name as _Montgomery Montgomery_ or something?

Though, the fact that Yuffie had loved to tease them about how you couldn't have a fast, violent storm without clouds to cover up the sky and, therefore, he and Squall were _trueloveforever_ might have had something to do with it.

Cloud entered the teacher's lounge, somewhat unsurprised to see Yuffie sitting on the table, and went about seeing whether or not he could pour himself a cup of coffee in under ten seconds. The longer he spent in here, the more likely he was to run into Leon again and if _that_ happened, well, his middle finger had a lot to say to Mr. Leonhart.

"Cloudster!" she chirped happily, half-way through a smoothie. "You're not mad at me about yesterday, are you? I was just trying to… ah… help."

"Of course you were." He couldn't help but smile. "It's fine, Yuffie."

He poured some milk into his coffee and grabbed the sugar packets—he could add those _after_ he'd gotten the hell out of there—preparing to make a break for it.

"You two are _ridiculous_," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes as Cloud made his way towards the door. "In the highly unlikely event that Leon comes looking for you, what do you want me to tell him?"

Cloud paused at the door. "Tell him… that his name is stupid." And then he was gone.

* * *

Riku's mouth curved into a nervous smile as he dug around his portfolio for Sora's gift. He'd spent the better part of the night putting the finishing touches on it, which made him more or less dead to the world mentally when his father had shaken him at 5am because the "goddamn toilet's overflowing and I need to take a shit."

How his father had confused 'high school student' with 'first class plumber', Riku would never know, but at least he'd fixed the toilet. It had cost him a bus ride with Sora, though, awarding him a day that had already begun with Sora hating him.

Interesting kid, that one. Hanging around with him wasn't for the faint of heart or weak of spirit. Riku had done more work in the last three days just to get Sora to _acknowledge_ him than he'd ever done in his entire life.

But he had a feeling that if he could just get Sora to smile at him—a real smile that reached his eyes—then everything would be worth it. Which is why he had drawn the picture.

Tidus pushed his half-empty carton of chocolate milk from one side of the table to the other, eyeing Riku with exasperated amusement. "So, you want in his pants or something, right?"

"That's what's wrong with today's generation," Riku said amiably as he located the picture and carefully extracted it so it wouldn't get bent or folded. "Everything always comes down to sex. Everybody has an ulterior motive. Suspicion and mistrust are what cause wars and murders. I for one—"

"—Are full of shit," Tidus finished for him, smirking. He whistled as Riku showed him the very detailed picture of Sora. "I totally can't stand the kid and I don't understand why you want to impress him so bad, but that's a real work of art. No offense, but I hope he hates it just to give me an excuse to beat his snotty little face in."

Riku chuckled, though he sincerely wished Tidus and Sora would get over whatever problem they had with one another. Tidus had been his best friend for years and Sora would, hopefully, be a new one. Was it too much to ask that they get along?

Tidus called him a peacemaker. Riku just preferred _not_ to walk around with a constant migraine.

"Here he comes," Tidus said idly, pointing over Riku's shoulder. Riku immediately turned around, instinctively smiling as he saw Sora inching his way into the cafeteria, looking at everyone like they would spring up and attack at any minute. That boy was so _cute_—in a purely friendship-like observational kind of… oh, screw it, Sora was freaking adorable.

The brunet finally noticed them and made his way over to the table, sitting down and producing a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and a Pepsi from his backpack. Riku didn't know whether he was still against cafeteria food or if he just had a Dorito fetish that the broken vending machine couldn't satisfy and he really didn't feel like asking at the moment.

"Hey, Sora," he greeted, the picture now burning a hole through his hand. "How were your classes?"

Just as Riku was berating himself for being so completely transparent, Sora looked at him like he had grown a talking fish head.

"They were fine, thank you," he said slowly as if wondering whether he should be giving such a positive answer or if he should be complaining about them so that Riku could launch into some sort of long rant.

Riku quickly smiled to show that, despite the fact that it was neutral question, that was a right answer. "Oh, that's cool."

"Um, yeah."

"'Um, yeah,' don't say hi to me, spiky." Tidus said sarcastically. "And also, Riku's got something for you."

"Oh, right!" Sora cried, ignoring the first half of Tidus' statement. His eyes were practically shining; he looked so excited. "Can I have my present now? Is it edible? Is it a cookie? _What is it?_"

"Yes, no, no, and here," Riku answered, handing Sora the drawing and holding his breath. He knew he was a decent artist, maybe even fantastic on a good day, but Sora just seemed so critical of everything. He didn't know if he'd be able to handle Sora hating his picture after he'd worked so hard on it.

Sora didn't seem to be breathing either. "Riku… this is…"

"I, um, drew it for you. Of you. Yesterday, when we were in the art room, that's what I was—"

"Riku…" Sora said again, breathlessly. "You… you…?

Tidus snickered and suddenly Sora seemed to snap out of the trance he was in and sniffed, sticking the picture carefully into his bag. "I would have preferred a cookie."

Riku shot Tidus a glare cold enough to freeze Bermuda, then gave Sora a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Sorry. I'll remember that for next time."

"Thanks." Sora's eyes were soft as he said it and Riku knew he wasn't talking about remembering cookies.

His smile brightened considerably. "Anytime."

* * *

Tidus had no patience for a lot of things. Among these things were Sora Harada, trips to the dentist, his mother when she was drunk, and Wakka Obana.

It wasn't that he _hated_ Wakka—no, okay, it _was_ that he hated Wakka. He still didn't understand how Wakka had gotten chosen as blitzball captain instead of him. He had all the brains, skill, and good looks. Who the hell had a crush on Wakka? Uh huh, that's right. Nobody.

Hff.

"Stop sulking, ya," Wakka said, tossing a blitzball into the air and kicking it to one of the other team members. "Makes you look like a girl."

"It does _not_," Tidus immediately protested, grabbing the returning blitzball just before Wakka could catch it. "I am all man. Now are we going to practice or are you just going to be a smartass because I'm prettier than you?"

"Geez, Tidus," Wakka rolled his eyes, snatching the ball. Tidus took a moment to resent the fact that Wakka had at least nine inches on him in height. "Who put the ground up nails in _your_ breakfast this morning, ya? EVERYBODY INTO THE WATER! We'll practice breathing exercises first!"

Tidus shed his shirt and dived into the school pool, filling his lungs with air before he made contact with the surface. As he mentally counted the seconds he could make it without drowning, he caught sight of Wakka a few feet away and scowled.

He was about to launch into an all new mental rant when a hand suddenly grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the pool. He opened his mouth in a gasp, inhaling water and choking as he was roughly tossed onto the pool deck.

"What t-the _fuck_?" he cried, coughing the moisture out of his lungs. His eyes watered, blurring the image of whoever had tried to kill him.

"I'm walking Sora home," said the familiar voice of Riku Masaki. "Wanna come?"

Tidus coughed out the last of the water and regulated his breathing. Then he attacked.

"ASSHOLE! I COULD HAVE _DIED_ AND YOU'RE FUCKING ASKING ME IF I WANT TO TAKE YOUR FUCKING BOYFRIEND BACK TO HIS FUCKING HOUSE! FUCKHEAD!" he screeched, his hands grabbing Riku's neck and trying to throttle him. They tumbled backwards onto the deck, narrowly avoiding the fall into the water, and Tidus straddled the older boy, pounding ineffective fists against Riku's chest. "YOU FUCKING SUCK!"

Riku, rather than being terrified or dead (the bastard), was laughing. "Tidus! God, you kiss your boyfriend with that mouth?"

"I'M NOT THE GAY ONE, DAMN YOU!" Tidus snapped, increasing his efforts to kill Riku. The white haired boy grabbed one wrist and then the other, stopping the attack and snickering.

"Well, I'm _sorry_, but it's not like I've never dragged you out of the pool before." Riku reasoned. He smirked. "I think you're just mad because you were busy checking out Wakka's ass under the water."

Tidus' eyes narrowed. "Death. Death! Pain. Suffering. _Dismemberment_. CASTRATION."

"I love you, too. Now, could you get off?"

Tidus glared at him.

"…please?"

The glare intensified.

Riku beamed innocently. "You know, I really don't get into this position with other boys unless we're dating. You offering?"

"Yeah," Tidus deadpanned. "I've been dying to have your hot and sexy body between my legs. Please, Riku, fuck me."

Riku's hand reached up and cupped his cheek and Tidus wondered if he'd catch something if he bit clean through Riku's wrist. Maybe it'd just be safer to lop off his arm with a protractor. But where would he get a protractor at a time like—

"Rik—oh my… um…" Tidus and Riku both turned to see Sora standing there, staring at them in a mixture of shock, interest, and a bit of disappointment. "Sorry for interrupting, but you said that if I tried to tie myself to a bus and get home that way, you'd camp out outside my house and you were taking too long to get Tidus so I just thought I'd come find you guys, but, obviously, you're making out so I'll just go wait out front and, oh, hey, I didn't know there was a pool here, is that water clean?"

Tidus climbed off of Riku, wondering how the hell Sora managed to talk so fast without taking a breath, and held out a hand to pull the older boy to his feet. He sighed in irritation. "Great, now you've got spiky thinking we're dating. I should really kick your ass, Riku."

However, he noted with growing irritation, Riku wasn't even listening to him. His entire attention was on Sora. "Tidus and I aren't—we aren't like that. I mean, Tidus is _straight_ and, even if he wasn't, it's _Tidus_—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Sora said, backing up and holding up his hands. "It's cool, really. No need to deny your clandestine relationship purely for my sake. I've never seen two boys making out before. Or almost make out before. It's, uh, not so bad, I guess. To each his own. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever rocks your house party. Etcetera, etcetera."

"Sora—"

"Tidus!" the blond tried his hardest not to glare at his team captain and was only half sure it worked. "Get your scrawny ass _back in the water_! This is blitzball practice, not time for you to play with your boyfriend!"

_Goddammit,_ Tidus thought, glancing over his shoulder and unsurprised to see that Riku and Sora were gone. _I fucking hate Riku._

* * *

"It's not true."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'd be ashamed if it _was_ true."

"Well, aren't you just the world's best boyfriend?"

"Sora!" Riku said in exasperation, stopping mid-walk.

They were only about half-way back to Sora's house and the younger boy had been frigid to him—well, _more_ frigid—the entire walk. Riku supposed he could have, or should have, mentioned how he and Tidus taunted each other, but it was too late for that. Now he had to concentrate on digging himself out of this hole before Sora stopped talking to him entirely, effectively undoing all the effort he'd put into the friendship already.

Sora took a few more steps before he realized Riku was no longer beside him and turned. "What?"

"I'm not dating Tidus. We were just fooling around." Sora's eyes widened and Riku, realizing what he'd just said, immediately corrected himself. "I mean, not like that. Like friends. We're not _together_."

"Okay," Sora replied, sounding just as exasperated as Riku had been. "Can we talk about something _else_ now? _Anything else_? You've been babbling on the entire way."

Riku grabbed Sora's wrist just as the brunet began to turn around and start walking again, meeting Sora's gaze intently. "I don't feel like that about Tidus, okay? I don't feel that way about anyone right now. To be honest, the only person who comes even remotely close to making me feel that way is you."

Sora stared at Riku impassively, tugging his wrist free. Riku didn't break the gaze and didn't avert his eyes guiltily. He was telling the truth. Sure, he didn't _like_ Sora. Not _that_ way. But he'd have to be stupid and blind not to notice that there was potential there. Whether Sora himself realized that was irrelevant.

The younger boy stepped closer, his expression still completely blank, until there was little more than a couple of centimeters separating their bodies. Then, he leaned up and, grabbing a fist full of Riku's t-shirt, brought Riku's lips down to his.

Riku was too shocked to do more than stand there stupidly and let Sora kiss him, wondering how he'd ended up standing in the middle of the sidewalk kissing a (cute, he freely admitted) boy he'd just met three days ago. Except he wasn't doing much of the kissing.

Just as that thought hit him, Sora pulled away, looking at Riku through lowered lashes. Riku stared at him, wondering what Sora's next move would be and why he'd kissed him and if he was going to do anything _else_. Then, Sora grinned.

"Sorry, but I'm too good for you, Riku."

Riku frowned, about to protest when Sora turned with a snicker and started to run. He stared for a moment as Sora got farther and farther away, then shook his head with a laugh and followed. "You little _bitch_!"

"Go find yourself a gay boy!" Sora called over his shoulder in between laughs. "You're missing the necessary parts for me to be interested!"

Riku's grin widened. "Well, sorry! It's just the cost of an operation is _so high _these days!"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that!"

Riku had no idea what was going on in Sora's head—he didn't think he ever would—but for the moment things were good between them and that was enough.

* * *

Tidus gave Wakka his customary departure signal (one middle finger as far up as he could get it) and left practice, his backpack slung over one shoulder and a grocery list in the other. He noticed the words 'more beer' scrawled unsteadily at the bottom of the list and rolled his eyes, wishing that his mother would stay away from the grocery list and/or do her own damn shopping. Like he could buy beer without paying somebody off to do it for him. _Geez_.

He supposed he was just fed up. Between practice with Wakka the Creep, Riku's little performance earlier, and then getting thrown over by Riku for Sora (again), Tidus was irritable, lonely, and irritable. What, just because he wasn't gay and snotty, he couldn't hold his own against Sora for the attention of his _best friend_? That made _so_ much sense.

"Dammit," Tidus muttered, realizing that he sounded like a bitter ex or something. He knew if he just _told_ Riku that he felt neglected and shit, Riku would try and fix it. Riku was just like that. He valued honesty; not only did he tell the truth, but he expected other people to be honest with him.

But, man, Riku just seemed so _happy_ when Sora was around. He was starting to get that happy glint back in his eyes that he hadn't had since his Mom took off. Sora might have been a stuck-up asshole, but he was the stuck-up asshole who was on his way to making Riku truly happy.

In three fucking days. Tidus just didn't understand it.

He stopped as he realized that he was, yet again, standing outside of The Paris Dance Studio. He didn't remember instructing his feet to take this way home and he really didn't feel like watching Selphie dance with the world's biggest scowl on his face.

That didn't, however, stop him from peering through the glass. Some girls were there, twirling and leaping and landing in perfect formation to some melody Tidus could only vaguely hear. His eyes swept over them, but Selphie wasn't among them. Well, wasn't _that_ just the perfect end to an already crappy day?

Disheartened, he turned and immediately slammed into something small and soft.

"Hey!" an unfamiliar voice said, grabbing his arm to keep from falling over. "Hey, you're Tidus, right? Right?"

Tidus blinked at the hand on his arm, following it up, up, up until he was staring into the eyes of none other than Selphie. He blinked again. "Um?"

"Hi! Remember me?" Selphie asked, beaming. She was wearing a pair of denim jeans and a sleeveless emerald green hoodie shirt. It brought out her eyes. "I'm Selphie! You ran away from me yesterday!"

"Um," Tidus repeated again, obviously feeling very intelligent and coherent. "Um."

"Want to go to the music store with me?" She pointed across the street to Dee Bee Records, the only decent music store for miles. "I figure if you're going to stalk me, we should at least get along. Especially if you're going to be so obvious about it."

Tidus struggled to say something other than 'um'. "Uh…"

"Great! Let's go!"

Before he could even form a sentence, she'd grabbed his arm and was dragging him across the street. Maybe this day wouldn't suck so bad after all.

* * *

Sora could feel it in the atmosphere. Seriously. It was like that moment in the movie where the guy and the girl stood on the porch awkwardly for ten minutes, shuffling around and locking gazes and then looking away, until one of them finally kissed the other goodnight and the girl went inside to gush about it in her diary.

The closer they got to Grandma Yamazaki's house, the more he could feel one of those moments coming on. And, really, he only had himself to blame for kissing Riku in the first place.

It wasn't like he'd done it with the intention of pursuing some kind of long term relationship (or even a short term one). Sora liked girls and Riku was no girl. It was more like he'd done it to prove to himself that all these traitorous thoughts he'd been having weren't the result of some sort of latent crush on Riku.

Which they weren't, because Sora hadn't really felt anything while kissing Riku. It was just kissing. No fireworks, no sappy music, no chorus of angels singing, "Baby, you're the one." Just kissing.

That crush Riku may-or-may-not have on him had to be pretty advanced for him to think Sora would kiss him again. Hadn't he just said he was out of Riku's league? He was rich. Riku was poor. Never the two shall meet.

His situation aside. Of course.

"Well, here we are," Sora said as he reached the front door and he didn't bother to wait before pulling it open and revealing at least twelve cats. "And here I go. See you tomorrow."

Riku blinked slowly, then seemed to shrug before that ever-present amused smile was back. "Bye, Sora. Sorry about the whole—"

"It's cool. Now get off my property, peasant." Sora stuck his tongue out at Riku and then slammed the door in his face. Ah, life's simple pleasures.

"Sora? Is that you?"

"Uh huh," He called back to his grandmother, peering through the peephole to see Riku _still_ freaking standing in front of the door. "But I have to go as soon as Riku's gone. Mom wants me home for dinner today."

Grandma Yamazaki appeared behind him, balancing four bowls of milk which she began to set down on the floor to lure away the cats that were trying to eat the dangling zippers on Sora's ratty backpack. She was smirking. "Riku walked you home again today, did he? Sounds like things are getting serious between you two."

"Yeah, I don't know why he keeps doing that. Like today he said—wait, _what_?" Sora whirled around so fast he nearly got whiplash. "Serious? We're not even—it's not like that at all! He's _poor_!"

Grandma Yamazaki sniffed. "So am I."

"You're _family_! And he's—he's all… nasty. And _male_."

She looked at him as though she'd never seen him before in his entire life. "…you're straight?"

"Yes." Sora said vehemently. "What did you think?"

"…are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Grandma Yamazaki blinked again. "Really?" She narrowed her eyes and began retreating almost suspiciously. "It's like I don't even _know_ you."

Sora stared at her blankly, then returned to staring through the peephole only to find that Riku was no longer standing outside. To be sure, Sora poked his head out the door briefly. Riku was nowhere in the immediate area. He looked behind him and waved. "Well, gotta go. Bye, Grandma!"

He got nothing but a small snort in reply.

* * *

"How about this? Do you like Switchfoot?" Selphie asked, waving the CD in his face. Tidus stared at the CD, then at her, then shook his head and looked away.

In the last half hour, he'd learned that Selphie was really the energizer bunny. This theory was backed up by her inability to sit still, her endless supply of energy, and the fact that she'd managed to fit a ninety-eight word rant about the Spice Girls into one breath. Not that Tidus had been counting. Or staring at her lips. Or anything.

"Well, what _do_ you like?" She placed one hand on her hip and pouted thoughtfully. "Is it me? Are you having a bad time because of me?"

"Wha—no, I—" Tidus began, cheeks flushing. "It's not you. I've just… had a bad day. It's _not_ you." He glanced around and grabbed the first CD he saw. "What about this one?"

Selphie peered at it, then raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Hilary Duff? Are you _serious_?"

"Um."

"Give me that before you hurt yourself," She took the CD with a giggle and flounced off in the direction of the Pop/Rock section, leaving Tidus to wallow in a pit of his own depression. He was hanging out with the prettiest girl he'd ever seen, after being accused of being gay, in one of his favorite places. By all rights, he should be moderately happy.

He just…

"Here! You've _got_ to like this song!" Selphie had reappeared beside him and was pulling him in the direction of the headphones. She scanned the CD—The Odds, Tidus barely had the time to read—and pulled the headphones on over his ear, flipping through the songs until she found the one she wanted.

_I'm a heterosexual… I'm a heterosexual maaaaan…_

Surprised, Tidus began to laugh.

"No self-respecting straight man _wouldn't_ like that song," she announced proudly, hands folded behind her back as she leaned towards him with a grin. "Pretty good, isn't it?"

Tidus nodded, small chuckles still escaping him. "Yeah, pretty good."

Selphie stepped close, lifting the headphones and pressing their cheeks together before bringing them back down so they could both hear. Tidus knew his cheeks were heating up, but trying to move away would only advertise that and he didn't really feel like moving anyway.

"_I wanna get every girl on the globe. We kiss and hug and then we disrobe…" _Selphie sang along happily until she realized she was getting a lot of odd looks from the girls in the area. She winked and blew a kiss. "What're _you_ doing tonight, cutie?"

Tidus laughed again. "Stop that. You're scaring them."

"People need to be more open-minded, anyway. If I want to hit on a girl, dammit, I'll hit on a girl!"

"While you're out on a date with me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Seems a bit rude."

Selphie grinned. "_This_ is not a date. A date is when a nice boy asks a nice girl to do something with him. A date is not when a nice girl drags a nice boy to a CD store so she can make sure he's not a psycho stalker."

The song came to a close and Tidus removed the headphones, putting them back and turning to her. "And am I a psycho stalker?"

Selphie met his gaze innocently. "I don't know. We haven't spent enough time together yet."

Tidus raised an eyebrow, about to ask if this was the part where he was supposed to ask her out on a real date, when he heard a small buzzing noise. Selphie pulled a rather expensive looking cell phone out of her pocket—how long had her parents had to save up to buy her _that_?—and had turned around to speak into it in hushed tones.

A few minutes later, she closed it with a sigh. "I have to go home now. It was nice finally getting to talk to you, Tidus." She smiled wistfully. "Come see me again, okay?"

"Yeah," He said with a wistful smile of his own. "Yeah, I will."

* * *

"So, son," Yukito began as he cut his steak into bitable pieces. "How are you doing at that—that—can you even call it a school?"

Seiya giggled, taking a sip of her white wine. "Now, now, honey. Don't be rude. How _are_ you doing, Sora? You never seem to be home in time for dinner, anymore. Does this mean you're getting involved and making friends?"

"Friends!" Yukito looked appalled. "They're poor! They don't make friends! They make clients and… and dealers!"

"Actually," Sora broke in before his father went on a long rant about the seedy underbelly of the city. "Some of them are actually nice. And not drug dealers. Or whores. And I kissed a boy today."

"Don't be ridiculous, Sora. They are _all_—WHAT?" Yukito shouted. His steak slid down the wrong hole and he began to choke, his face turning red. Seiya clapped him on the back even as her eyes lit up.

"Sora, you're gay? I knew it! I told you! Didn't I tell, you, Yuki? You _so_ owe me three hundred dollars."

Sora blinked, realizing for the first time just how alike Grandma Yamazaki and his mother were. "Mom, I'm _not _gay."

"You kissed a poor boy?" Yukito demanded as soon as he could breathe again. "Your first experiment with your sexuality has to be with a POOR BOY?"

"Well, he was there," Sora said with a shrug, going back to his food. "And also I think he likes me. He pretty much said so after I caught him about to make out with this other boy."

"Oooooh," Seiya leaned forward in her seat, looking at Sora intently. "I have to meet this boy. What's his name? Are you going to go out with him? What do you think of him? What do you mean you're not gay?"

"Seiya," Yukito said firmly. "Our son likes girls and I will thank you to stop encouraging this—this _phase_."

"Liking boys isn't a _phase_. Although," Seiya paused thoughtfully. "Didn't you have a thing with that one boy? What was his name? The one I caught you with in the old music room and took pictu—"

"ANYWAY," Yukito interrupted. "Sora, I don't want you fraternizing with any boys. Especially not _poor_ ones. You have to give us an heir."

"I thought that was Kairi's job. I thought my job was not to flunk out of school again," Sora pointed out, completely disinterested in the conversation. It wasn't like he was even interested in Riku. Sure, he was nice and funny and smart and a really talented artist. But Sora liked girls. And, also, Riku was poor, like his father said.

"What's his name?" Seiya insisted, waving her spoon at Sora menacingly. "And when do I get to meet him?"

"His name is Riku," Sora answered dully. "And you don't. He thinks I'm poor, remember? Besides, I only kissed him because—" _Because I wanted to._ "—because he looked pathetic. I don't like him at all." He looked down. "May I please be excused?"

"Don't think we're done talking about this!" Yukito said before sighing. "Go ahead. You should start your homework anyway."

"Thank you." Sora got up, not meeting either of his parents' eyes as he left the table and made his way to his room. He immediately reached for his bag, pulling out the picture he'd stuffed in there earlier.

It really looked like it had taken a long time…

"Riku," he murmured, running his finger along the sketch and completely unaware of the small smile on his face. "Riku…"

* * *

**Next Update:** Part 005: All That You Can't Leave Behind 


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